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EEOC Nominee Confirmed By U.S. Senate; EEOC Regains Quorum


At long last, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") has regained a quorum after a prolonged period of only having two EEOC Commissioners (short of the three needed for the EEOC to have a quorum).

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate approved EEOC Chair nominee Janet Dhillon with a 50 - 43 vote in favor of her confirmation.  Ms. Dhillon's nomination had been pending since 2017 when she was nominated by President Donald Trump.  Readers will recall that there was a stalemate among Republicans and Democrats over nominees to the five member EEOC.  In fact, in a somewhat unprecedented move, Republican Senator Mike Lee successfully blocked the re-nomination of Chai Feldblum, a Democratic nominee, a few months ago...much to the consternation of Democrats.  In doing so, that left the EEOC with only two Commissioners, Victoria Lipnic (a Republican nominee) and Charlotte Burrows (a Democratic nominee).  As a result, with three seats remaining open, the EEOC lacked a quorum, which prevented the Commission from issuing new policies, regulations, or guidance.  It goes without saying that this severely limited what the EEOC could do, until it obtained at third Commissioner to reestablish a quorum.

However, once Ms. Dhillon is sworn in, the EEOC will be back to "business as usual."  I would expect attention to then turn to the two remaining openings at the EEOC.  It would not surprise me if there is a compromise reached between Republicans and Democrats (as each party should have one nomination each.)  With that being said, as Senator Lee has shown, there does not appear to be as much of an appetite for the parties to work together.  If anything, headed into a heated election next year for President (and several prominent Democratic Senators in the running for President), there might not be as much of a willingness to work together in a bipartisan manner compared to prior years.


For additional information as to Ms. Dhillon's confirmation:  https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=bf746880-085b-49a2-8b4c-422b98e39f25

For a breakdown of the 50 - 43 U.S. Senate vote:  https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=1&vote=00104
 

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