EEOC seeks to drop a gender discrimination case, signaling a big shift in civil rights enforcement

The federal agency that enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws has moved to dismiss its own lawsuit on behalf of a worker allegedly fired for his sexual orientation and gender identity, arguing that the case now conflicts with President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, according to court documents.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Thursday filed a joint motion to dismiss its case against Harmony Hospitality LLC, which operates a Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel in Dothan, Alabama, just eight months after the agency sued the company over its firing of an employee who identifies as nonbinary male and gay.

The employee worked for Harmony as a night auditor and “styled himself in conformity with male gender stereotypes” at work, according to the EEOC’s original lawsuit. But when he was called in for a meeting outside of working hours, he wore “capri-cut joggers, pink-painted nails, and box braids.”

Upon learning about the employee’s gender identity and sexual orientation, Harmony Hospitality’s co-owner said the employee needed to be “hidden” because of his appearance, and seven hours later, he was fired via text message, the lawsuit alleges.

The complaint accuses Harmony of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by terminating the employee “because of his sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and failure to adhere to male gender stereotypes.”

The EEOC’s request to now dismiss the case marks a major departure from its prior interpretation of civil rights law after the Trump administration declared that the government would recognize only two sexes: male and female.

That’s in stark contrast to a decade ago when the agency issued a landmark finding that a transgender civilian employee of the U.S. Army had been discriminated against because her employer refused to use her preferred pronouns or allow her to use bathrooms based on her gender identity.

Just last year, the EEOC updated its guidance to specify that deliberately using the wrong pronouns for an employee, or refusing them access to bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, constituted a form of harassment.

Former EEOC General Counsel and Professor and Co-Dean Emeritus at Rutgers Law School David Lopez, who served in the agency for more than 20 years, called the EEOC’s move “unprecedented” and “discriminatory.”

For an anti-discrimination agency “to discriminate against a group, and say, ‘We’re not going to enforce the law on their behalf’ itself is discrimination, in my view. It’s like a complete abdication of responsibility,” Lopez told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

The motion to dismiss the Alabama case, filed jointly with the defendants, comes just weeks after Trump dismissed two Democratic commissioners of the five-member EEOC before their terms expired, an unprecedented decision that removed what would have been a major obstacle to his administration efforts to upend interpretation of the nation’s civil rights laws. Had the commissioners been allowed to carry out their terms, the EEOC would have had a Democratic majority well into Trump’s term. The administration also fired Karla Gilbride as the EEOC’s general counsel, replacing her with Andrew Rogers as acting counsel.

Shortly after their dismissal, acting EEOC chair Andrea Lucas, a Republican, signaled her intent to put the agency’s resources behind enforcing Trump’s executive order on gender. She announced in a statement that one of her priorities would be “defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights.” Later, she ordered that the EEOC would continue accepting any and all discrimination charges filed by workers, although complaints that “implicate” Trump’s order should be elevated to headquarters for “review.”

“Biology is not bigotry. Biological sex is real, and it matters,” Lucas said in her statement. “Sex is binary (male and female) and immutable. It is not harassment to acknowledge these truths — or to use language like pronouns that flow from these realities, even repeatedly.” She removed the agency’s “pronoun app,” which allowed employees to display their pronouns in their Microsoft 365 profiles, among other changes.

Nearly all workplace discrimination charges must pass through the EEOC — at least initially — and the agency’s decision to drop the Alabama case raises serious questions about whether its protections will extend to LGBTQ+ and gender nonconforming people going forward.

Attorneys for Harmony Hospitality LLC did not immediately reply to emails seeking comment. In a court filing, the company denied the original allegations of discrimination in the EEOC’s lawsuit and said the plaintiff was “separated from employment” based on “reasonable, legitimate factors,” though the company did not specify the reasons. The company also said the plaintiff’s gender played no role in any of the company’s actions.

Asked for comment on why it’s dropping the case, an EEOC spokesperson replied that the agency will not comment on litigation. But in its motion to dismiss, the EEOC cites compliance guidance from the Office of Personnel Management on Trump’s executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” as the reason behind its decision.

“The EEOC’s continued litigation of the claims in this action may be inconsistent with the Order and the OPM Guidance,” the motion says.

Jocelyn Samuels, one of the Democratic EEOC commissioners who was fired last month, said via email of the decision: “I think it is truly regrettable and an illustration of the significant damage caused by the President’s executive order. The Administration’s efforts to erase trans people are deeply harmful to a vulnerable community and inconsistent with governing law. I hope that the EEOC will assist each of the individuals harmed by this withdrawal to find counsel who can represent them in vindicating their rights.”

Lopez of Rutgers University said dropping the Alabama case is not only inconsistent with a 2020 Supreme Court decision that ruled gay, lesbian and transgender people are protected from discrimination in employment, but also the agency’s own strategic priorities and harassment enforcement guidance.

“This is the inevitable outcome when the EEOC is weaponized to greenlight discrimination against American workers,” added Sarah Warbelow, vice president of legal at LGBTQ+ rights group Human Rights Campaign, in an emailed statement. “Instead of standing up for the rights of everyone to a workplace free from discrimination, including harassment and bias, the Trump administration is making it abundantly clear they will not protect working people.”

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