Wednesday, June 3, 2020: New Movement for EEOC Commissioner Seats
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is another step closer to filling its two vacant Commission seats and replacing Commissioner Lipnic (R) who has chosen not to seek another five-year term, and just in time (see story above “Trouble in EEOC”). As we reported in March of this year, President Trump nominated (and renominated) the following individuals for the Committee:
- Jocelyn Samuels(D) of Maryland, for a term, expiring July 1, 2021. Samuels is the Executive Director at the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
- Andrea R. Lucas(R) of Virginia, to take Commissioner Lipnic’s Commission seat after Lipnic’s term ends July 1, 2020, for a five-year term, expiring July 1, 2025. Lucas has practiced in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in the firm’s labor and employment group for almost a decade, a Group which current U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia used to Chair before his nomination to head USDOL.
- A re-nominee: Keith Sonderling(R), for a term, expiring July 1, 2024. President Trump nominated Mr. Sonderling last year, but he was not confirmed before the old Congress adjourned. Mr. Sonderling is currently deputy administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor.
NOTE: Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act gives The President authority to appoint five Commissioners to the EEOC, including one to be its Chair, for rotating fixed five-year terms. This authority also allows The President to appoint three of the Commissioners from his own political party. (This allows for a more gradual transition of political power than a snap-over the day after the new President is sworn in on January 20th following a Presidential election).
The Senate has now placed all three of these nominees on the Senate Executive Calendar (No 706, 708, and 709), subject to their commitment to respond to requests to appear and testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (“HELP”) Committee. After a Committee Hearing, the HELP Committee would then call for a vote whether to advance the Nominee to the Senate. If that majority vote is successful, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) would then decide whether and when he has available time on the Senate Floor to hold a vote, and would then schedule it. Given the few remaining legislative days in the Senate Legislative calendar (only 59 Legislative Days left in the Senate before the Presidential election and only 84 total to the end of the 116th Congress), the need to process high-value Nominees (such as federal Judicial Nominees and Department heads) through the Senate, it is entirely possible the Senate may not soon vote on these candidates even if they are momentarily successful before the HELP Committee. Rather, Senator McConnell may just be “loading the gun” for the next Trump term should the President win re-election and the Republicans hold their majority in the US Senate.
There is nonetheless some pressure operating on Senator McConnell to at least push through Ms. Lucas’ nomination since the Commission will next month drop to only two sitting Commissioners with Commissioner Lipnic’s term expiring, and will thus lack a quorum to convene. Adding fuel to that fire, Chair Dhillon and Commissioner Burrows are already at loggerheads. While U.S. Senate Rules will allow Commissioner Lipnic to remain in office as long as the 116th Congress is in session through January 3, 2021 (since President Trump has now nominated a replacement) AND IF no replacement is confirmed at an earlier date, Commissioner Lipnic (a liberal Republican) may not wish to hold over and is not always on the same page as Chair Dhillon, at any rate.
Current Commission
- Janet Dhillon(R), Chair, term expires July 1, 2022.
- Charlotte A. Burrows(D), term ends in 2023.
- Victoria A. Lipnic(R), term expires July 1, 2020.
- Vacant
- Vacant