EEOC allows certain complaints of transgender discrimination to continue

The American Commission for Equal Employment, the Federal Agency responsible for enforcing laws against discrimination in the workplace, will allow certain complaints of transgender workers to proceed, a change in relation to previous directives which indefinitely stopped affairs alleging discrimination in the workplace against transgender persons.

An e-mail was sent earlier this month to EEOC leaders in which Thomas Collclough, director of the agency’s field programs, said that if the new complaints from transgender workers involved “hiring, discharge or promotion, you are clear to continue to treat these costs”.

Even with the change, these complaints will always face a more in -depth examination than other cases of workplace discrimination, requiring the approval of the interim president of the EEOC, Andrea Lucas, who was appointed by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

Lucas said one of his priorities would be to “defend the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights”.

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The acting president of EEOC, Andrea Lucas, said that one of her priorities would be to “defend the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights”. (Getty Images)

Since Trump returned to the presidency in January, the EEOC has moved away from its previous interpretation of the Civil Rights Act which included the prohibition of workplace discrimination against people according to their gender identity.

This comes after the agency published a benchmark a decade ago that a transgender civilian employee of the US army had faced discrimination when his employer refused to use the worker’s favorite pronouns or to allow the individual to use bathrooms according to gender identity rather than biological sex.

Under the authority of Lucas, the EEOC has abandoned several proceedings alleging discrimination against transgender workers. Lucas defended this decision at his confirmation hearing of the senatorial committee last month, invoking the executive order of Trump indicating that there are only two sexes – men and women.

But she also recognized that the 2020 Supreme Court decision, bostock v. Clayton County “clearly stood that discrimination against someone on the basis of sex included the dismissal of a transgender individual or based on their sexual orientation”.

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Since Trump returned to the presidency in January, the EEOC has moved away from its previous interpretation of the Civil Rights Act. (Images Andrew Harrer / Getty)

Collclough said in its e-mail that the EEOC would examine the complaints of transgender discrimination which “fall out by” the decision of the Supreme Court, including cases involving hiring, dismissal and promotion, which has reversed a previous policy which deactivated the affairs registered in the name of transgender workers.

“Under the federal law, the requests for accusation and the accusations of discrimination caused to the EEOC are confidential,” a spokesman for the EEOC told the Associated Press, while refusing to comment on the details of his updated policy.

“In accordance with title VII and, as being required, the EEOC is, has been and will continue to accept and investigate all the bases protected by law and bring these accusations to the competent employer,” added the spokesman.

But even the cases that the EEOC will consider under the decision of the Supreme Court must always be examined by a main lawyer and sent to Lucas for final approval.

The transgender case review process is not typical of other complaints of discrimination and reflects the increased increase in these cases by the agency, according to the former EEOC commissioner, Chai Feldblum, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

Under the current management, the EEOC has abandoned several proceedings alleging discrimination against transgender workers. (Getty Images)

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“This is a slight improvement because it will allow certain complaints of discrimination to continue,” Feldblum told the Associated Press. “But overall, this does not correct a horrible and legally inappropriate situation that currently occurs at EEOC.”

COLCLOUGH’s email did not specify how long the examination process could take, or if the cases which include additional complaints, such as harassment or reprisals, would be eligible to proceed, and the EEOC refused to answer these questions.

“It is not that the EEOC is clear for its own staff or for the public which charges will be processed,” said Feldblum. “It is not a panacea.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.