Senate HELP Committee holds hearing on DOL, EEOC nominees

On June 18, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the nominations of Jonathan Berry for Department of Labor (DOL) Solicitor of Labor, Andrew Rogers for Wage and Hour Division (WHD) Administrator, Anthony D’Esposito for DOL Inspector General, and the renomination of Andrea Lucas to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The theme repeated by all the nominees is that President Trump is leading to a golden age for American workers.

Andrea Lucas

Acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas—nominated for a second term on the EEOC—received the most attention from the Senators. She made it clear she saw former EEOC Chair and current Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as her model as Chair. She indicated she saw it as her job to dismantle identity politics, engage in colorblind enforcement for all, and to reverse the perception that the commission is the “playground of the left.”

When challenged on the firing of former EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows and former Vice Chair Jocelyn Samuels, Lucas said the EEOC has been part of the executive branch since it received the Equal Pay Act and Age Discrimination in Employment Act from the DOL in 1978, and therefore the president had the authority to fire any EEOC commissioner.