Less than 24 hours after assuming the presidency, Donald Trump announced significant changes in the leadership and focus of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), as well as other policy changes which will reverberate through the workplace (and the nation) over his term.

His most rapid actions focused on three areas: the leadership and thus focus of the EEOC, DEI policies and initiatives, and the rights of LGBTQ and transgender employees and citizens.

And, to round it out, he ordered all or most federal employees back to work, in their offices, five days per week.

New EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas

As predicted in our December webinar, Andrea Lucas, the lone Republican-appointed Commissioner, was appointed the Acting Chair of the EEOC. While this appointment does not come as a surprise, its speed is notable, and is the first step in promoting the agenda that President Trump and his allies signaled in the months prior to his inauguration.

Ms. Lucas was appointed “Acting” Chair, and thus does not need Senate confirmation. This grants her some immediate powers, but leaves the door open for Trump to appoint another individual as the EEOC Chair in the future. It is entirely possible—and indeed, perhaps likely—that this individual may be handpicked without prior ties to the agency at all, as there is currently a vacancy on the Commission that Trump will almost certainly fill.

Ms. Lucas’s ability to act—at least in the short term—may be limited due to the fact that...

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