Key facts
- Jocelyn Samuels, a former Democratic commissioner of the EEOC, dropped her lawsuit challenging her dismissal by President Trump.
- The lawsuit dismissal follows a Supreme Court ruling that enhanced presidential power over independent agencies.
- The EEOC is proposing to end annual collection of workplace demographic data and rescind guidance on English-only rules.
- The EEOC's new regulatory agenda aims to implement President Trump's civil rights agenda.
- Democratic Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal opposed the proposed changes, stating they weaken worker protections.
Jocelyn Samuels, a former Democratic commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), has dropped her lawsuit challenging her dismissal by President Donald Trump. The decision comes after the Supreme Court upheld the president's authority to fire heads of independent agencies, overturning a 91-year-old precedent.
Samuels had argued that her dismissal, along with that of fellow Democrat Charlotte Burrows, violated the intent of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which established staggered terms for EEOC commissioners to ensure continuity and insulation from political pressure. However, the recent Supreme Court ruling, which affirmed Trump's power to remove leaders of independent agencies except for the Federal Reserve, left Samuels without a viable path to contest her termination.
Following the Supreme Court's decision, the EEOC has moved forward with aspects of Trump's civil rights agenda. The agency released a regulatory agenda that includes proposals to end the annual collection of workplace demographic data from companies with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with at least 50 workers. It also plans to rescind longstanding guidance warning that requiring employees to speak only English on the job may be discriminatory. EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas supported the Supreme Court's ruling, stating it reinforced the agency's executive branch status. However, the sole Democratic commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal, voted against the agenda, arguing that the proposed changes weaken civil rights protections for workers and undermine the agency's enforcement efforts. The EEOC also intends to rescind 1980 guidelines on national origin-based discrimination and has voted to discard guidelines on voluntary affirmative action for women and minorities.