by Robert S. Teachout, SHRM-SCP, Brightmine Legal Editor
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will soon be back in action, now that the US Senate has confirmed the appointment of a third commissioner on the five-person commission.
The Senate confirmed Brittany Panuccio as a commissioner in a 51-47 vote Tuesday. Panuccio has been an assistant US attorney in Florida since 2021 and previously served as a special counsel in the US Department of Education during Trump’s first administration.
Panuccio joins Acting Chair Andrea R. Lucas and Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal, restoring a quorum at the EEOC with a Republican majority; Kotagal is the sole Democrat. The agency has lacked a quorum since January, when President Trump fired commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels before their terms expired.
Without a quorum, the EEOC can exercise basic functions and responsibilities, such as processing discrimination claims and issuing informal publications like fact sheets and technical assistance. But it cannot engage in formal rulemaking, publish formal guidance or initiate large-scale lawsuits in pattern-or-practice cases or those challenging precedent.
Lucas has stated her intentions to revisit the EEOC’s regulations on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the recent revisions to the agency’s harassment guidance. Other priorities include focusing on religious and anti-American discrimination, scaling back workplace protections for transgender and nonbinary workers, and scrutinizing employers’ diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Panuccio stated in her confirmation hearing that she intends to support Trump’s agenda and her arrival allows Lucas to take steps to implement those changes.
The Senate is also currently considering two appointees nominated by President Trump to the National Labor Relations Board. Their confirmation would restore a quorum to the Board, which has been unable to issue decisions for most of this year.
About the author
Robert S. Teachout, SHRM-SCP
Legal Editor, Brightmine
Robert Teachout has more than 30 years’ experience in legal publishing covering employment laws on the state and federal level. At Brightmine, he covers labor relations, performance appraisals and promotions, succession and workforce planning, HR professional development and employment contracts. He often writes on the intersection of compliance with HR strategy and practice.
Before joining Brightmine, Robert was a senior HR editor at Thompson Information Services, covering FMLA, ADA, EEO issues and federal and state leave laws. Prior to that he was the primary editor of Bloomberg BNA’s State Labor Laws binders and was the principal writer and editor of the State Wage Assignment and Garnishment Handbook. Robert also served as a union unit leader and shop steward in the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild of the Communications Workers of America. Actively involved in the HR profession, Robert is a member of SHRM at both the national and local levels, and gives back to the profession by serving as the communications vice president on the board of his local chapter.
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