Former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission commissioner Jocelyn Samuels dropped her lawsuit challenging her dismissal by President Donald Trump on Monday in New York.
She cited a recent Supreme Court ruling that expanded presidential authority over independent agencies.
Background of the Case
Samuels and Charlotte Burrows were removed before the end of their five-year terms.
Their removal cleared the path for a major reorganization of federal civil rights enforcement under the Trump administration.
Following these changes, the agency released a regulatory agenda proposing to eliminate annual workplace demographic data collection. It also plans to rescind guidelines regarding English-only workplace mandates.
In her legal filings, Samuels maintained that statutory staggered terms were intended to protect the agency from political interference.
She said they ensure “continuity, stability and insulation from political pressure.”
However, she decided to withdraw the lawsuit following the high court's decision regarding independent agency heads.
She stated that the ruling “leaves me without a viable path forward to continue contesting my termination.”
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas expressed support for the Supreme Court decision. She noted its clarification of the agency's structural placement, stating that “EEOC is an executive branch agency.”
An agency representative emphasized their alignment with the administration's policy goals.
The spokesperson said the EEOC is “committed to implementing President Trump’s landmark civil rights agenda, dedicated to evenhanded enforcement of federal civil rights laws.”
The sole remaining Democratic commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal, voted against the newly introduced regulatory proposals.
She argued that “the proposed changes weaken civil rights protections for workers and undermine the agency’s investigative and enforcement efforts.”
She questioned the decision to halt the long-standing requirement for large companies to submit workforce diversity statistics. “The EEOC has collected this data from employers for six decades.
It’s difficult to understand why the agency would kneecap its ability to investigate discrimination, particularly at a time when the EEOC is chronically understaffed and underfunded,” Kotagal said.
The agency also outlined plans to alter its 1980 national origin discrimination definitions.
Those definitions previously cautioned against language restrictions that “create an atmosphere of inferiority, isolation and intimidation based on national origin which could result in a discriminatory working environment.”
The regulatory update challenged the historical legal assumptions behind those rules. The EEOC argued against the “presumption that English-only rules violate Title VII in some circumstances.”
Additionally, the commission recently voted to rescind voluntary affirmative action guidelines. It also plans to revise regulations enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
