President Donald Trump He allegedly dismissed two of the three Democratic Commissioners in the Commission for Equal Employment Opportunities (EEOC), because his administration continues his promise of removal of diversity, equality and inclusion (dei) from the government bureaucracy.
Two current EEOC commissioners, Charlotte Burrols and Jocelyn Samuels, said on Tuesday that they had been fired late on Monday night. They both said they were exploring the possibilities to dispute their release, calling them removing them before the expiration of five -year term of office by unprecedented decision that undermines the independence of the agency.
Burrols, who is EEOC Commissioner since 2015, said in his statement on Tuesday that the release of two democratic commissioners was completed before their conditions ended up “undermined the efforts of this independent agency that an important job of protecting employees from discrimination, supporting compliance with employers efforts and expanding public awareness and understanding of federal employment laws. “
Samuels, who was appointed by Trump in 2020 and then nominated Former President Joe Biden For a second term, she said that her removal “violates the law and is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the EEOC as an independent agency-not-controlled agency that does not control that secretary of a cabinet, but acts as a multi-member body whose different views are baked in the design of the Commission.”
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President Donald Trump talks to journalists on the aircraft one on the way from Miami to the shared base of Andrews, md., January 27, 2025, as listened to by the print secretary of the Karolina Leavitt White House. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
“The President’s action is undermined by the stability and continuity of the critical work of EEOC to improve equal capabilities and honest treatment,” she said.
Turning her off, Samuels said, the White House “also criticized my views on Deia initiatives and sexual discrimination, further misinterpreting the basic principles of equal employment options.”
The former commissioner claimed that Dei initiatives “protect all people based on race, gender, gender and religious belief and other characteristics”, but Trump’s administration argued the so -called protection inserted by the bidet administration in fact at that discrimination. For example, EEOC posted the guidelines last April describing how the employer may be responsible for harassment if he ordered an employee who uses a bathroom that corresponds to their biological gender, which encouraged the return reaction.
“The demonstration of this administration of transgender persons is cruel and in disagreement with the law,” Samuels wrote on Tuesday.
Fox News Digital addressed the White House on Wednesday to comment.
The then assistant of the General State Attorney for Civic Rights Jocelyn Samuels speaks during a press conference on September 30, 2013 in Washington, DC (Kris Connor/Getty Images)
Eeoc was created by the title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as a two -party five -member panel to protect workers from discrimination based on race, gender, disability and other protected characteristics. The US president appoints commissioners, and the Senate confirms them, but their conditions are abandoned and are intended to overlap the presidential conditions to ensure the independence of the agency.
Two releasing agencies with one Republican commissioner, Andrea Lucas, who was appointed by Trump last week by the acting chairman of the Chairman EEOC, a Democratic Commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal and three vacancies that Trump can fulfill.
Another Republican commissioner, Keith Sonderling, resigned after Trump appointed him a deputy secretary of the work.
Lucas, New acting chair eeocissued a statement last week in which she would prioritize “eradicate the illegal dei -motivated race and sexual discrimination; protection of American workers from discrimination of anti -American national origin; defense of biological and binary reality of gender and related rights, including women’s rights to women’s rights to one -sex space at work. “
In contrast, three Democratic commissioners posted statements last week to condemn a series of executive orders aimed at ending Dei Practice in federal workforce and private companies, together with “protection” for transgender workers. Their statements also emphasized that US antidiscrimination laws remain intact despite Trump’s commands and that EEOC must continue to implement them.
Charlotte Burrows, President of the Commission for Equal Employment Opportunities of the United States (EEOC) posing for photography at their headquarters in Washington, DC, May 14, 2021. (Reuters/Andrew Kelly)
Panel Eeoc investigates and pronounces penalties to employers who have been found to have violated laws that protect workers from racial, gender, disability and other forms of discrimination. The Agency also writes influential rules and guidelines for the implementation of the Antdiscrimination Act and implements the workplace to reach and training.
In recent years, democratic and Republican commissioners of the agency have been sharply divided by many questions. Both Republican commissioners voted against the new guidelines last year, stating that the “misconceptions” of transgender employees, or denying access to the bathroom In accordance with their gender identity, they would violate the laws on antidiscrimination. Republican commissioners also voted against regulations stating that employers must provide workers with free space and other accommodation for abortion under the new Law on Pregnant women.
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Gynne A. Wilcox and General Counselor Jennifer Abruzzo was also dismissed late Monday night, the Agency confirmed.
Wilcox was the first black woman to serve on the Committee since her founding in 1935, the NLRB website states.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
