President Trump named Andrea Lucas to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She has been acting chair since January, 2025. She was first nominated in 2020 to the EEOC during President Trump’s first tenure. Lucas was reconfirmed this July for a second five-year term. This was around the time that President Trump fired two Democrats who were EEOC commissioners. Lucas has become known for her rejection of transgender rights.
In a press statement released on November 6, 2025, Lucas said:
“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.”
Under her leadership, the EEOC dropped lawsuits on behalf of transgender workers and stopped imvestigating ccomplaints based on disparate impact liability. It also has focused on several religious discrimination cases, including a charge against the Mayo Clinic. It alleges the Mayo clinic unlawfully denied a security guard’s request for religious accommodations relating to a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine. The EEOC supports the Trump Administration’s efforts to target private organizations over their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The EEOC’s offices are closed due to the current government shutdown. Once the government re-opens, predictions are that Chair Lucas will seek to overturn or at least modify the final regulations under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. She opposed those rules in April 2024 when they were passed by a majority of then-EEOC commissioners.
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