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NWLC Responds to the Firing of Commissioners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 28) — Once again, President Trump has betrayed working people, lawlessly firing Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrows, commissioners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). These commissioners, who by statute include representatives from both parties, are nonpartisan government officials tasked with protecting workers by enforcing civil rights laws, including protections against sex discrimination in the workplace.
Gaylynn Burroughs, vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center, issued the following statement in response:
“There is absolutely no basis, legal or otherwise, for Trump to remove these commissioners. They do not serve at the pleasure of the president—they work at an independent agency on behalf of the American people. Workers who have faced sexual harassment, abuse and other discrimination on the job should feel secure in being able to report these incidents to the EEOC. The agency receives thousands of charges of discrimination each year and secures millions of dollars of relief for workers with substantiated complaints. Donald Trump is making it crystal clear: when he claims to attack ‘DEI,’ he actually seeks to undo core civil rights laws and protections, exposing all working people to the threat of discrimination at the whims of their bosses.
Today’s outrageous firings send a cruel message that not all workers can count on the EEOC. Under the EEOC envisioned by Trump, the government will no longer have your back if you are a transgender or gay worker seeking fair treatment. And if you are a person of color or a woman, your success at work is evidence of ‘illegal DEI.’
Congress and the courts must immediately step into the breach and use every tool at its disposal to remind Trump that he is not king, that we have a country of laws, and that ‘DEI’ is not a magical incantation that empowers him to obliterate civil rights protections.”
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