Agency Independence at Risk With Target on Firing Protections

The EEOC is the latest federal agency to face a lawsuit arguing that its leadership is unconstitutionally protected from being fired at will by the president, threatening the independence of this and other workplace rights enforcers from White House control.

Two coalitions of Republican states led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently cited the protections Equal Employment Opportunity Commission members have from being removed in separate lawsuits raising objections to the agency’s Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations and enforcement guidelines on workplace harassment.

Over the past several years, a handful of US Supreme Court cases have rolled back ...