Trump Fires two EEOC Democratic Commissioners In Rare Move (2 )
President Donald Trump fired two Democratic Equal Employment Opportunity Commission members in an unmatched relocation that undercuts the Democrats‘ voting majority on the board, the set validated in declarations Tuesday.
Trump’s firing of EEOC Commissioners Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrows leaves two seats on the five-member civil rights panel to be filled by nominations from the brand-new administration.
The president also axed the commission’s general counsel, Karla Gilbride, who confirmed her termination in a statement posted to LinkedIn on Tuesday night.
The shootings of Samuels and Burrows bypass historic precedent of leaving commissioners in place at the independent agency. Their ouster clears a path for the Trump administration to advance its second-term civil liberties law program, which has up until now targeted diversity, job equity, and addition programs and gender identity protections through executive orders.
Due to staggered terms, the Democrats would have kept a majority on the five-member EEOC until 2026, job when Samuels‘ term was set to expire. Without the Democrats‘ voting bloc in place, just recently called acting chair, job Republican Andrea Lucas, and future can guide the company’s policy and job litigation program.
Burrows, the previous chair of the EEOC, job Samuels, and job Gilbride got word of their firings from the White House late Monday.
„I take pride in the work my colleagues and I have done to help eliminate barriers for level playing field for all workers and to promote fair and nondiscriminatory workplaces. While I strongly disagree with the President’s actions, and will explore all legal alternatives offered to me, I will continue to do all I can to battle for the rights of American employees and to support the efforts of others who do the same,“ Burrows stated her statement, in which she also stated she’s working with legal representatives from Katz Banks Kumin LLP.
Trump also terminated 2 other key authorities from another independent labor-focused firm, the National Labor Relations Board. He fired Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox and Biden-era General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo on Monday.
The firings come after Republican-led states have cited securities commissioners at the EEOC have actually from being eliminated as unconstitutional in separate lawsuits challenging the company’s workplace anti-harassment guidance and Pregnant Workers Fairness Act guidelines.
The EEOC is among numerous federal firms dealing with suits from oppositions that argue its management is unconstitutionally secured from being fired at will by the president.
„It has been an honor and an opportunity to work as an EEOC Commissioner, and I deeply regret this Administration’s short-sighted and unprecedented choice to eliminate me from a position to which I stay dedicated. I am considering my legal alternatives and will continue to promote strenuously for the civil liberties of all employees,“ Samuels said in a statement.
Gilbride’s shooting has more precedent in the commission’s history. Former President Joe Biden fired Trump-appointed EEOC Chair Sharon Gustafson in 2021 after she refused to step down.
Gilbride stated in her posted statement she takes pride in the results the EEOC attains for employees, and is „discouraged by the current executive orders that appear intended to distract federal companies from their day-to-day work of serving the general public and instead require them to concentrate on settling scores with, and erasing traces of, the previous administration.“
Only Lucas, who Trump called as acting chair Jan. 20, in addition to Democratic Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal remain on the civil liberties panel. There is likewise a job open from a seat left by Keith Sonderling, who Trump just recently named deputy labor secretary.