The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said its former top lawyer “lacks authority to speak on behalf of the agency” but didn’t commit to formally investigating her for letters to employers suggesting the commission would take enforcement action over employee abortion travel benefits.

The Littler Workplace Policy Institute sent a letter to the EEOC on Oct. 21 requesting that current legal counsel investigate its former General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson after she sent a letter to some employers in which “she suggests she has some measure of legal authority and implies she is acting with the support of the Commission.”

Littler requested that the agency “formally investigate” whether Gustafson’s actions “constitute a breach of ethical rules or regulations.” In an Oct. 28 response letter obtained by Bloomberg Law, EEOC Legal Counsel Carol R. Miaskoff said Gustafson doesn’t speak for the agency, but she didn’t mention a possible probe.

“Ms. Gustafson is not an employee of the EEOC, and she lacks authority to speak on behalf of the agency,” Miaskoff said. “Accordingly, her letter should be understood to represent her own views, not those of the Commission.”

Miaskoff also pointed to the EEOC’s guidance on pregnancy discrimination and noted that discrimination claims can be fact-specific.

Gustafson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on the...

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