EEOC Acting Chair Lucas confirmed to second term

The U.S. Senate confirmed Andrea Lucas, acting chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to a second term at the agency Thursday in a party-line vote. Lucas’ new term expires July 1, 2030.

“I am honored to be confirmed by the Senate to serve a second term at the EEOC,” Lucas said in a press release. “I remain committed to enacting the bold civil rights agenda laid forth by President [Donald] Trump, ensuring equal justice under the law, and focusing on the restoration of equal opportunity, merit, and colorblind equality for all members of the American workforce.”

Lucas has made her mark at EEOC as acting chair despite the agency lacking a quorum due to Trump’s dismissal of two Democratic commissioners before the expiration of their respective terms. Under Lucas, EEOC issued technical assistance documents targeting what it called unlawful diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and it moved to abandon litigation alleging job discrimination on behalf of transgender plaintiffs.

In the meantime, Lucas said the agency will prioritize combating anti-American bias as well as defending “the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single-sex spaces at work,” in line with an executive order issued by Trump earlier this year.

More recently, Lucas and EEOC announced a $21 million settlement with Columbia University resolving allegations of civil rights violations against Jewish employees following the Hamas attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. EEOC said the settlement is its largest in nearly 20 years and its largest-ever settlement for victims of antisemitism.

During her confirmation hearing, Lucas faced questions from Democratic lawmakers regarding the agency’s independence from the White House. Lucas, reversing her prior stance, maintained that EEOC is not independent and may follow presidential orders to take up or dismiss discrimination charges against an employer provided that the order is lawful.

“If the president gives me a lawful directive, which I’m confident that he would do, then I would obey that directive,” Lucas said at the June hearing.

Elsewhere, the agency terminated leases at some of its field offices in several states, according to a March letter to Lucas by congressional Democrats. The agency also faces at least one lawsuit alleging that it refused to enforce federal workplace protections for transgender workers. In some cases, advocacy groups have taken up representation of transgender plaintiffs whose cases EEOC dropped.