On May 20, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a memo stating that it has suspended payments to state and local civil rights agencies for claims involving transgender workers and disparate impact.
While presidents do not have the authority to unilaterally change civil rights law, the Trump administration has used executive orders to chart a new path on enforcement. The memo to state and local agencies said the directive was consistent with two of Mr. Trump’s executive orders — one that asserted that the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female; and another that ordered federal agencies to halt their use of “disparate-impact liability.”
The New York Times
While state and local civil rights agencies affiliated with the EEOC only received $31.5 million, they processed two-thirds out “of the tens of thousands of discrimination claims the E.E.O.C. receives each year.” As Trump has railed against bureaucratic inefficiency and bloat, it is unknown as to why his administration stripped funding for highly efficient civil rights agencies. The EEOC itself has also declined to comment on the matter.
This decision undermines the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was, in 2020, ruled by the Supreme Court to apply to homosexual and transgender employees.
The stripping of state and local funding comes on top of other changes to the EEOC.
Under Andrea Lucas, the acting chair who was appointed by Mr. Trump, the agency has already dismissed discrimination cases it previously filed on behalf of transgender employees, and it has investigated law firms for their diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The New York Times
A Democratic commissioner, Jocelyn Samuels, was also fired from the agency within days of Trump’s return to power. She was fired without cause despite having been hired by Trump in his first term. On April 9, she has sued the Trump administration over the firing.
