President Donald Trump has appointed Andrea Lucas as chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced Thursday.
According to The Associated Press, Lucas, first nominated to the EEOC in 2020, was confirmed in July for a second five-year term. Her leadership is associated with rolling back protections for transgender workers, challenging diversity programs, and emphasizing religious rights in the workplace.
“I’m honored to be designated Chair of the EEOC,” Lucas said in a statement. “Under the Trump Administration, the Commission has made significant progress advancing its core mission to uphold our nation’s civil rights laws and protect American workers through consistent, effective enforcement.
As Chair, I remain committed to enforcing the law evenhandedly, advancing equal opportunity, and upholding merit-based, colorblind equality in America’s workplaces.”
Lucas became acting chair in January after Trump fired two Democratic commissioners, creating a Republican majority in the agency. The Senate recently confirmed Trump pick Brittany Panuccio as a commissioner, restoring the EEOC’s full authority to pursue the administration’s agenda.
Under Lucas, the EEOC has pursued religious discrimination cases, including one against Mayo Clinic over a security guard’s request for a religious exemption from a COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
The agency has also dropped lawsuits on behalf of transgender workers, heightened scrutiny of gender identity complaints, and ceased investigating complaints based on “disparate impact liability,” a civil rights law concept aimed at addressing practices that disadvantage demographic groups.
Lucas has also used the agency to challenge private diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Democratic lawmakers and civil rights groups criticized her promotion. Lauren Khouri of the National Women’s Law Center said, “Andrea Lucas was handpicked by Trump to lead the EEOC and his mission of weaponizing the agency to attack hardworking people across the country…Lucas has a history of abandoning workers at every turn and leaving them without protection, including women workers, transgender and nonbinary workers, and workers of color.”
Conservative legal group Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty praised Lucas. “Andrea Lucas is a champion of equality and race-neutrality,” said VP Dan Lennington. “The EEOC will be pivotal in extinguishing race-conscious policies, like DEI, from the private sector. The agency’s investigation power can support the millions of Americans negatively impacted by racial preferences, goals, and quotas at work.”
