A former Democratic Equal Employment Opportunity Commission commissioner fired by President Donald Trump is suing the Trump administration, claiming that her termination was unlawful.
Trump fired Jocelyn Samuels, the plaintiff of the lawsuit, and Charlotte Burrows, days into his second administration. In the lawsuit, Samuels’s lawyers argued that her termination “has significant and damaging consequences for the work of the Commission, the enforcement of the nation’s anti-discrimination laws, and the rights and interests of both workers and employers.”
“Defendant Trump’s efforts to hamstring the EEOC are consistent with and further his Administration’s efforts to turn back the clock on decades of established precedent protecting workers and job applicants from discrimination, but they are contrary to law,” the lawsuit continues.
The EEOC was created under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is charged with protecting workers and job applicants from workplace discrimination based on race, sex, religion, and national origin.
By firing both Samuels and Burrows, the EEOC was left with just two members, failing to have the three-person quorum necessary to make rulings.
“While the President may accept these results, his actions to incapacitate the EEOC are contrary to the rule of law and harmful to the American workforce,” the lawsuit stated.
Trump first appointed Samuels to the board in 2020, and then a year later, then-President Joe Biden appointed Samuels again for a term set to last until 2026.
WHAT IS DOGE? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY
The EEOC generally consists of five members, and the president has the opportunity to appoint a member annually. No more than three members can be of the same political party.
Samuels’s firing reflects a larger pattern of Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency cutting federal jobs in an effort to shrink the bureaucracy. Trump also faces lawsuits from the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Trade Commission over his terminations.
