Ex-EEOC Commissioner Challenges Termination in Court

Former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) member Jocelyn Samuels was terminated by President Trump earlier this year along with fellow Democratic Commissioner Charlotte Burrows, leaving the EEOC without a quorum. Samuels filed a lawsuit earlier this week challenging the President’s authority to fire her.

Why it matters: The lawsuit – like the ongoing battle over NLRB Member Wilcox’s termination – sets up a legal showdown that could eventually cement the President’s authority to terminate independent agency heads at will. However, by statute, EEOC member termination protections are less rigorous than other agencies.

Why that matters: If agency leaders can be fired at the President’s sole discretion, employers can expect the following:

• Heads will roll: Mass leadership firings will become a feature of any new administration, every four to eight years.

• No brakes on the presidential agenda: With the ability to more quickly install loyalists and remove dissenters, Presidents will be better positioned to implement their policy agendas fully and at a faster pace.

• Regulatory ping-pong on steroids: The partisan swings that have long plagued regulatory policy—leaving employers in a constant state of compliance whiplash—will only intensify, as new administrations gain the ability to reverse course more rapidly.