By AP Business Writer Alexandra Olson
NEW YORK (AP) — The Senate has confirmed Andrea Lucas for another term as commissioner for the country’s workplace Civil Rights Office, showing Republican support in efforts to eradicate diversity programs, roll back protections for transgender workers, and prioritize religious rights in the workplace.
Democrats and prominent civil rights groups have vehemently opposed Lucas’ confirmation, saying they have made the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission a president’s whim.
Lucas, first appointed to the EEOC in 2020, secured another five years of term in the 52-45 party-affiliated Senate vote on Thursday night, but if she serves as chairman, President Donald Trump is:
Lucas firmly aligned the EEOC with Trump’s civil rights agenda, and declared at a confirmation hearing last month that she didn’t believe the agency was independent.
The EEOC has dropped the lawsuit on behalf of transgender workers and halted the progress of others in accordance with Trump’s executive order declaring two immutable genders. Lucas also harnessed the EEOC’s enforcement rights to help the Trump administration target private institutions over DEI programs or anti-Semitism allegations. Her confirmation comes a week after the EEOC secured a $21 million settlement with Columbia University over allegations of harassment against Jewish employees.
“I look forward to continuing historic progress since the start of the second Trump administration under my leadership. I deny Day from securing multiple settlements with some of the world’s largest law firms, accepting merit-based employment practices and other employment practices, and to win the largest EEOC settlement for anti-minity victims in a statement on the representation of Jewish employees at Columbus University.
Democrats attacked Lucas’ leaders as part of the Trump administration’s broader attempt by politicizing political institutions that have long been considered independent.
“In just a few months as acting committee chair, Andrea Lucas has recognized the EEOC’s mission, rolled back protections for those who were surrounded by the environment and sexually assaulted in the workplace, and blackmailed anyone who challenged President Trump,” Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement.
Last week, legal and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against the EEOC, alleging that they were illegally denied federal protections for transgender workers.
However, Republican senators, several business groups and religious institutions have praised Lucas’s leadership, particularly his commitment to leading the Biden era and repeating Biden era leadership and regulation, which strengthens protections for women seeking abortion, birth control and birth therapy.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported Lucas’ confirmation, saying in a statement it “believes to find a balance between EEOC policies and decisions.”
The EEOC, which investigates employment discrimination in the private sector, was created by Congress under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The commissioner’s firing left the EEOC without the quorum needed to make some major decisions. That changes if the Senate checks out second Trump candidate Brittany Panuccio.
Original issue: August 1, 2025, 12:59pm EDT
