Dive Brief:
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Acting Chair Andrea Lucas has selected Shannon Royce, former president of the Christian Employers Alliance, to serve as her chief of staff, Lucas said in a LinkedIn post Tuesday.
- Royce left CEA in December after heading the Christian group for nearly four years, per her LinkedIn profile. CEA is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with the agency over Biden-era policies on gender identity and abortion protections.
- Royce’s hiring suggests that EEOC could be doubling down on Christian rights in its approach to compliance. The Trump administration has identified addressing anti-Christian bias as one of its priorities.
Dive Insight:
In its lawsuit, filed Jan. 15, CEA alleged that EEOC and former Chair Charlotte Burrows “exceed[ed] the government’s statutory and constitutional authority” over their application of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to cover gender-transition efforts and of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to include protections for elective abortions (Christian Employers Alliance v. EEOC).
“Many employers — including CEA members — recognize that gender transition efforts and elective abortions harm employees and others. Affirming or facilitating transition efforts or elective abortions ignores the biological realities that humans are male or female and that human life begins at conception,” CEA said in the complaint.
CEA is represented in the lawsuit by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit legal organization that is “committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.”
With Royce at its helm, CEA previously successfully challenged a mandate that required its member organizations to pay for or provide gender transition services, including surgeries, procedures, counseling or other treatment.
A court said in its March 4, 2024, ruling that EEOC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can’t enforce provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that prohibit certain entities receiving federal assistance from denying benefits on the basis of gender identity.
