Congress Strikes Harmful Trump-Era Rule That Limited EEOC’s Ability to Protect Workers’ Civil Rights

(Washington, D.C.) In the final days of the Trump administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a key federal agency charged with protecting workplace civil rights, approved changes to conciliation, its process for trying to resolve workers’ discrimination claims against their employers. Instead of ensuring that discrimination charges are resolved fairly, the EEOC’s final conciliation rule imposed several new obligations and disclosures on the EEOC that would harm working people seeking relief from discrimination, put a thumb on the scale in favor of employers, and impede the work of the EEOC. On May 19, 2021, the Senate passed S.J. Res. 13, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval of the EEOC conciliation rule. Today, the House passed S.J. Res 13, and it is now headed to the President’s desk. The resolution undoes this harmful rule and restores the EEOC’s longstanding conciliation procedures.

The following is a statement from Emily Martin, Vice President for Education and Workplace Justice at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC):   

“The rights of individuals in this country to work with equality, safety, and dignity faced relentless attacks during the Trump administration and were further jeopardized by the pandemic. The EEOC conciliation rule attempted to stack the deck against working people seeking justice by changing the EEOC’s process for resolving claims of unlawful discrimination to weight it in favor of employers. We applaud Congress’s use of the Congressional Review Act to undo this harmful rule that would have delayed justice for workers and increased their risk of retaliation. We urge President Biden to swiftly sign the bill so that the EEOC can return to its important work ensuring workplaces are free from discrimination.”