Latest news with #AndreaLucas
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate confirms anti-DEI stalwart Andrea Lucas to second term at top workplace civil rights agency
NEW YORK (AP) — The Senate confirmed Andrea Lucas to another term as commissioner of the country's workplace civil rights agency, demonstrating firm Republican support for her efforts to root out diversity programs, roll back protections for transgender workers and prioritize religious rights in the workplace. Democratic lawmakers and prominent civil rights groups fiercely opposed Lucas' confirmation, saying she has subjected the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the whims of the president, who elevated her to acting chair in January and, in an unprecedented act, fired two of the agency's Democratic commissioners before their terms expired. Lucas, who was first appointed to the EEOC in 2020, secured another five-year term with a 52-45 party-line Senate vote on Thursday night, but it will be up to President Donald Trump if she continues as chair. Lucas has firmly aligned the EEOC with Trump's civil rights agenda, declaring during her confirmation hearing last month that she doesn't consider the agency to be independent, a position she acknowledged was a shift from her previously stated views. In compliance with Trump's executive order declaring two unchangeable sexes, the EEOC dropped lawsuits on behalf of transgender workers and stalled progress on others. Lucas has also leveraged the EEOC's enforcement powers to help the Trump administration target private institutions over their DEI programs or allegations of antisemitism. Her confirmation came a week after the EEOC secured a $21 million settlement with Columbia University over allegations of harassment against Jewish employees, part of a broader agreement with the Trump administration to restore federal research money. 'I look forward to continuing the historic progress this agency has made since the start of the second Trump Administration under my leadership — from securing multiple settlements with some of the world's largest law firms to disavow DEI and embrace merit-based hiring and other employment practices, to obtaining the largest EEOC settlement to date for victims of antisemitism on behalf of Jewish employees at Columbia University," Lucas said in a statement following her confirmation. Democrats have assailed Lucas' leadership as part of the Trump administration's wider attempts to increase his authority by politicizing agencies long considered to be independent. 'In just a few short months as Acting Chair, Andrea Lucas has warped the mission of the EEOC beyond recognition and weaponized the agency to green light discrimination, roll back protections for people who are sexually assaulted at work, and intimidate anyone who challenges President Trump," Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement. Last week, legal and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against the EEOC claiming that is has unlawfully refused to enforce federal protections for transgender workers. But Republican senators and some business groups and religious institutions have praised Lucas' leadership, especially her commitment to rolling back Biden-era guidance and regulations strengthening protections for transgender workers and women seeking abortions, birth control and fertility treatments. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported Lucas' confirmation, saying in a statement that she 'believes in finding balance in EEOC policies and decisions.' The EEOC, which investigates employment discrimination in the private sector, was created by Congress under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The dismissals of the commissioners left the EEOC without the quorum needed to make some major decisions. That will change if the Senate confirms a second Trump nominee, Britanny Panuccio. Alexandra Olson, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Washington Post
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Senate confirms anti-DEI stalwart Andrea Lucas to second term at top workplace civil rights agency
NEW YORK — The Senate confirmed Andrea Lucas to another term as commissioner of the country's workplace civil rights agency, demonstrating firm Republican support for her efforts to root out diversity programs , roll back protections for transgender workers and prioritize religious rights in the workplace. Democratic lawmakers and prominent civil rights groups fiercely opposed Lucas' confirmation, saying she has subjected the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the whims of the president, who elevated her to acting chair in January and, in an unprecedented act, fired two of the agency's Democratic commissioners before their terms expired.
Associated Press
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Senate confirms anti-DEI stalwart Andrea Lucas to second term at top workplace civil rights agency
NEW YORK (AP) — The Senate confirmed Andrea Lucas to another term as commissioner of the country's workplace civil rights agency, demonstrating firm Republican support for her efforts to root out diversity programs, roll back protections for transgender workers and prioritize religious rights in the workplace. Democratic lawmakers and prominent civil rights groups fiercely opposed Lucas' confirmation, saying she has subjected the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the whims of the president, who elevated her to acting chair in January and, in an unprecedented act, fired two of the agency's Democratic commissioners before their terms expired. Lucas, who was first appointed to the EEOC in 2020, secured another five-year term with a 52-45 party-line Senate vote on Thursday night, but it will be up to President Donald Trump if she continues as chair. Lucas has firmly aligned the EEOC with Trump's civil rights agenda, declaring during her confirmation hearing last month that she doesn't consider the agency to be independent, a position she acknowledged was a shift from her previously stated views. In compliance with Trump's executive order declaring two unchangeable sexes, the EEOC dropped lawsuits on behalf of transgender workers and stalled progress on others. Lucas has also leveraged the EEOC's enforcement powers to help the Trump administration target private institutions over their DEI programs or allegations of antisemitism. Her confirmation came a week after the EEOC secured a $21 million settlement with Columbia University over allegations of harassment against Jewish employees, part of a broader agreement with the Trump administration to restore federal research money. 'I look forward to continuing the historic progress this agency has made since the start of the second Trump Administration under my leadership — from securing multiple settlements with some of the world's largest law firms to disavow DEI and embrace merit-based hiring and other employment practices, to obtaining the largest EEOC settlement to date for victims of antisemitism on behalf of Jewish employees at Columbia University,' Lucas said in a statement following her confirmation. Democrats have assailed Lucas' leadership as part of the Trump administration's wider attempts to increase his authority by politicizing agencies long considered to be independent. 'In just a few short months as Acting Chair, Andrea Lucas has warped the mission of the EEOC beyond recognition and weaponized the agency to green light discrimination, roll back protections for people who are sexually assaulted at work, and intimidate anyone who challenges President Trump,' Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement. Last week, legal and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against the EEOC claiming that is has unlawfully refused to enforce federal protections for transgender workers. But Republican senators and some business groups and religious institutions have praised Lucas' leadership, especially her commitment to rolling back Biden-era guidance and regulations strengthening protections for transgender workers and women seeking abortions, birth control and fertility treatments. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported Lucas' confirmation, saying in a statement that she 'believes in finding balance in EEOC policies and decisions.' The EEOC, which investigates employment discrimination in the private sector, was created by Congress under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The dismissals of the commissioners left the EEOC without the quorum needed to make some major decisions. That will change if the Senate confirms a second Trump nominee, Britanny Panuccio.
NBC News
30-07-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Civil rights agency sued over handling of trans worker discrimination complaints
Legal groups sued the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Tuesday, claiming it is unlawfully refusing to enforce federal workplace protections for transgender workers. Led by Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, a Republican, the federal agency charged with enforcing laws against workplace discrimination has moved swiftly to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order declaring two unchangeable sexes. Under Lucas's leadership, the EEOC has dropped several lawsuits on behalf of transgender workers, stalled progress on some new cases, and subjected others to heightened scrutiny. The lawsuit also alleges that the agency halted payments to state and local civil rights agencies for investigating gender identity discrimination claims. "For over 60 years, the EEOC's mandate has been to protect workers from discrimination, not to pick and choose who is deemed worthy of protection based on political interference," said Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which alongside the National Women's Law Center brought the case on behalf of Maryland LGBTQ+ advocacy group FreeState Justice. "The Trump-Vance administration's unlawful effort to erase protections for transgender people is cruel, and a violation of the law and the Constitution," Perryman continued in an emailed statement. The EEOC declined to comment on the lawsuit, and instead referred The Associated Press to the Department of Justice. The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lucas, who is named in the lawsuit filed in Maryland U.S. District Court in Baltimore, has said that one of her priorities as Acting Chair would be "defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights." Last month she defended her decision to drop several lawsuits on behalf of transgender workers during her June 18 Senate committee confirmation hearing, saying her agency is not independent and must comply with the president's orders. "It was impossible to both comply with the president's executive order as an executive branch agency, and also zealously defend the workers we had brought the case on behalf," she said. However, Lucas acknowledged that a 2020 Supreme Court ruling — Bostock v. Clayton County — "did clearly hold that discriminating against someone on the basis of sex included firing an individual who is transgender or based on their sexual orientation." Plaintiffs argue that although the Bostock precedent "cemented protections for LGBTQ+ workers that the EEOC had already recognized for years" the agency has now "foreclosed transgender workers from the full set of charge investigation and other enforcement protections available to cisgender charging parties and categorically refuses to fully enforce the laws protecting against workplace sex discrimination tied to gender identity." The lawsuit, which cites two Associated Press reports detailing EEOC actions related to LGBTQ+ workers, alleges that the EEOC's "Trans Exclusion Policy" violates Supreme Court precedent, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fifth Amendment's Equal Protection guarantee, and the Administrative Procedure Act. "Instead of serving its critical role to prevent discrimination in the workplace, the EEOC, under Andrea Lucas' leadership, is actually promoting discrimination," said Gaylynn Burroughs, Vice President for Education and Workplace Justice at NWLC, in an emailed statement about the lawsuit. "Transgender workers deserve to be protected against harassment, and the EEOC is obligated to do so under law. But the Trump administration seems hellbent on bullying transgender people in every possible way and ensuring that they are pushed out of all forms of public life, including their workplaces, so we're taking the administration to court."
The Hill
29-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Federal agency sued for failing to enforce employment protections for transgender workers
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency responsible for enforcing laws against workplace discrimination, has refused since January to fully enforce employment protections for transgender workers, two left-leaning legal organizations argue in a new lawsuit. A complaint filed Tuesday by Democracy Forward and the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) on behalf of FreeState Justice, a Maryland nonprofit, alleges the EEOC and its acting chair, Andrea Lucas, are violating federal civil rights law, the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent by declining to process certain discrimination complaints raised by transgender workers. The EEOC first halted the charge-investigation process for charges tied to sexual orientation or gender identity in January, the lawsuit alleges, following an executive order from President Trump declaring that the U.S. recognizes only two unchangeable sexes, male and female. In April, the agency directed staff to classify charges of gender identity discrimination as meritless and put them on hold, the Associated Press reported at the time. In a July email to staff that was first reported by the Washington Post, Thomas Colclough, director of the EEOC's field operations, said the agency would only process cases that 'fall squarely' under the Supreme Court's 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that firing transgender workers because of their gender identity violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The agency would process standalone hiring, dismissal and promotion charges brought by transgender workers, Colclough wrote, but would not investigate other claims, including workplace harassment, that are tied to gender identity. Tuesday's lawsuit, filed in Maryland district court, refers to the agency's new policy as the 'Trans Exclusion Policy' and argues that it 'deprives transgender workers of the full set of charge-investigation and other enforcement protections that the EEOC provides to other workers.' 'Consider, for example, the transgender worker who files a charge of discrimination with the EEOC after a years-long barrage of on-the-job anti-trans insults and slurs, threats of sexual and lethal violence, and physical attacks,' the lawsuit says. 'Before the Trans Exclusion Policy, a charge alleging such facts would have led the EEOC to process and investigate the charge, which in turn might have yielded a finding by the EEOC that there was reasonable cause to believe the charging party had been subject to unlawful treatment.' 'Under the Trans Exclusion Policy, the EEOC would not investigate, issue a cause finding, attempt to settle, or take any other step to process the charge,' the lawsuit continues. 'All because the charging party is transgender.' An EEOC spokesperson directed The Hill's request for comment to the Justice Department, which did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the complaint. Gaylynn Burroughs, vice president for education and workplace justice at NWLC, said in a statement that the EEOC under Lucas's leadership is 'promoting discrimination.' 'Transgender workers deserve to be protected against harassment, and the EEOC is obligated to do so under law,' Burroughs said. 'But the Trump administration seems hellbent on bullying transgender people in every possible way and ensuring that they are pushed out of all forms of public life, including their workplaces, so we're taking the administration to court.' Lucas, who has served as an EEOC commissioner since 2020 and was named the agency's acting chair in January, had previously listed 'defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights' as one of her top priorities. During a Senate confirmation hearing in June, Lucas defended her decision to dismiss several of the EEOC's own cases filed on behalf of transgender workers, arguing the cases conflict with Trump's 'two sexes' order. 'Biology is not bigotry. Biological sex is real, and it matters,' Lucas said in January. 'Sex is binary (male and female) and immutable. It is not harassment to acknowledge these truths—or to use language like pronouns that flow from these realities, even repeatedly.' Lucas has also voiced opposition to the EEOC's anti-harassment guidelines, which state that gender identity discrimination is prohibited by Title VII and 'sex-based harassment includes harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity, including how that identity is expressed.' Lucas, who voted against the policy when the EEOC brought it to a vote last year, cannot unilaterally remove or modify it.
