Dive Brief:
- President Donald Trump will nominate Brittany Panuccio, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Justice Department in Florida, to become a commissioner for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Senate records showed Tuesday.
- Panuccio formerly served in the U.S. Department of Education as an attorney advisor in the agency’s civil rights office and special counselor in its general counsel office during the first Trump administration, according to government staffing records. She has served at DOJ since November 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile.
- If confirmed, Panuccio would restore a quorum at EEOC, allowing the agency to resume exercising key responsibilities. Her confirmation also would restore a Republican majority to the commission for the first time in roughly three years. Panuccio did not respond to a request for comment. EEOC referred HR Dive to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Dive Insight:
Panuccio would fill the seat left vacant since 2024 by the departure of former commissioner Keith Sonderling, who currently serves as deputy labor secretary. If confirmed, her term would expire July 1, 2029.
The agency has been left without a quorum in the aftermath of Trump’s controversial dismissal of two Democratic commissioners, Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, prior to the expiration of their respective terms. With only two current commissioners, EEOC is unable to conduct important business such as issuing of official guidance.
For example, Trump previously directed EEOC to revisit Biden-era anti-harassment guidance that included examples of harassment such as “outing” individuals, misgendering, comments related to gender-nonconforming appearances and denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with a person’s gender identity as examples of harassment. Any such change must be approved by a majority of commissioners, EEOC has said.
Similarly, EEOC is seeking to revisit the previous administration's final rule implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, Acting Chair Andrea Lucas said recently, but the agency cannot do so until its quorum is restored. Lucas opposed the rule’s description of the scope of accommodations required by the PWFA, stating the rule erroneously “extended the new accommodation requirements to reach virtually every condition, circumstance, or procedure that relates to any aspect of the female reproductive system.”
