Comer, Fallon Request Information on EEOC Enforcement of Title VII’s Prohibition on Racial Discrimination in Employment Practices

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon (R-Texas.) are today conducting oversight of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) enforcement of longstanding prohibitions on racially discriminatory policies in employment practices. In a letter to EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows, the lawmakers request documents, communications, and a staff-level briefing to better understand EEOC’s enforcement of Title VII’s prohibition of employment practices that discriminate on the basis of race or color.

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is conducting oversight of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s enforcement of federal law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment practices in light of concerns that some U.S. companies may be incorporating racially discriminatory policies into decisions related to recruiting, hiring, job assignments, and promotions,” the lawmakers wrote.

In June 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled race-conscious admissions decisions unconstitutional in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina (UNC). Following the decision, EEOC Commissioner Andrea R. Lucas wrote that the decision “…brings the rules governing higher education into closer parallel with the more restrictive standards of federal employment law,” and warned that U.S. businesses should “…take a hard look at their diversity programs.”

“Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, clearly and explicitly prohibits unlawful employment practices for covered employers that discriminate against an individual ‘because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.’ […] As the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws against illegal racial discrimination in all types of work situations, it is critical that EEOC is taking all available measures to prevent and end unlawful employment practices that discriminate on the basis of an individual’s race or color,” the lawmakers continued.

Read the letter to EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows here.