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Trump Fires 2 EEOC Democratic Commissioners In Rare Move (2 )

President Donald Trump fired two Democratic Equal Employment Opportunity Commission members in an unmatched relocation that damages the Democrats’ ballot majority on the board, the pair validated in declarations Tuesday.

Trump’s shooting of EEOC Commissioners Jocelyn Samuels and employment Charlotte Burrows leaves two seats on the five-member civil rights panel to be filled by nominations from the new administration.

The president also axed the commission’s general counsel, Karla Gilbride, who confirmed her dismissal in a statement posted to LinkedIn on Tuesday evening.

The shootings of Samuels and Burrows bypass historic precedent of leaving commissioners in location at the independent firm. Their ouster clears a course for the Trump administration to advance its second-term civil rights law agenda, which has up until now targeted diversity, equity, employment and addition programs and gender identity protections through executive orders.

Due to staggered terms, the Democrats would have maintained a majority on the till 2026, when Samuels’ term was set to expire. Without the Democrats’ ballot bloc in place, just recently named acting chair, Republican Andrea Lucas, and employment future Trump appointees can guide the company’s policy and litigation program.

Burrows, employment the former chair of the EEOC, Samuels, and Gilbride got word of their firings from the White House late Monday.

“I am proud of the work my coworkers and I have actually done to assist remove barriers for equal opportunity for all employees and to promote reasonable and nondiscriminatory offices. While I strongly disagree with the President’s actions, and will explore all legal alternatives available to me, I will continue to do all I can to combat for the rights of American employees and to support the efforts of others who do the very same,” Burrows stated her statement, in which she also stated she’s working with lawyers from Katz Banks Kumin LLP.

Trump also ended 2 other key authorities from another independent labor-focused agency, the National Labor Relations Board. He fired Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox and employment Biden-era General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo on Monday.

The firings come after Republican-led states have actually cited protections commissioners at the EEOC have from being eliminated as unconstitutional in different claims challenging the firm’s workplace anti-harassment guidance and Pregnant Workers Fairness Act rules.

The EEOC is one of numerous federal companies facing suits from challengers that argue its leadership is unconstitutionally secured from being fired at will by the president.

“It has actually been an honor and a benefit to serve as an EEOC Commissioner, and I deeply regret this Administration’s short-sighted and unmatched choice to remove me from a position to which I stay committed. I am considering my legal choices and will continue to promote strenuously for the civil rights of all workers,” Samuels stated in a declaration.

Gilbride’s firing has more precedent in the commission’s history. Former President Joe Biden fired Trump-appointed EEOC Chair Sharon Gustafson in 2021 after she refused to step down.

Gilbride said in her published statement she takes pride in the results the EEOC accomplishes for employees, and is “disheartened by the current executive orders that seem meant to distract federal companies from their everyday work of serving the general public and instead force them to concentrate on settling scores with, and eliminating traces of, the previous administration.”

Only Lucas, who Trump named as acting chair Jan. 20, in addition to Democratic Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal remain on the civil rights panel. There is also a vacancy open from a seat left by Keith Sonderling, who Trump just recently named deputy labor secretary.