The main senate democrat starts probe on Trump’s EEOC, NLRB firings

President Donald Trump’s cleaning of key members in two independent panels that manage the anti-baiic laws of the work and work, got a probe from the ranking member to the Senate Work and Health Panel.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), The Democratic Leader of the Senate’s Health, Education, Work and Pension Committee, in letters on Friday told leaders of National Labor Relations Board and US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission That he “seeks answers about these deeply about layoffs” and to deliver “copies of all communication between the president’s transition team or admission staff” and the agency’s staff since November.

Sanders’ requests come in the midst of continued fall over Trump’s unprecedented end of democratic NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox and Attorney General Jennifer Abruzzo late January 27. The next day he fired the democratic EEOC chairman Charlotte Burrows, Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels and General Attorney Karla Gilbride.

The advice of the general councils was expected as the federal appeals courts have confirmed the president’s authority to do so.

But Trump’s termination of the other members marked an unprecedented test of the presidential powers who contradicted 90 years of the US Supreme Court precedent It protects independent agency leaders, administrative law researchers said. The federal labor law explicitly limits the removal of board members in the event of neglect or malfeasance.

Quorum challenges

The dismissal resulted in the agencies lacking a necessary decision -making of three members, preventing them from intervening and fulfilling their statutory responsibilities until vacancies are filled. Legal researchers warn that the terminations risk undermining the legitimacy of future agency decisions.

Wilcox, the first black woman earning on the agency board of five members, plans to sue.

Sanders repeated Wilcox’s argument that her resignation “was also obviously illegal. Board members serve five-year election periods and can only be removed after ‘notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.’

There is no evidence that she dealt with such behavior or even received notice and a hearing as needed, he said in a letter to NLRB chairman Marvin E. Kaplan and acting General Jessica Rutter.

“As you know, NLRB has the task of enforcing the workers’ constitutional right to organize. At a time when corporate greed is on an all time, NLRB’s role in protecting workers is more important than ever, ”it said.

Sanders also told EEOC -functioning President Andrea Lucas in a letter that gaps and Samuels’ layoffs left EEOC “unable to participate in substantive political work, issue allegations of discrimination, or fil for litigation to remedy discriminatory practices from employers.”

“These layoffs are unprecedented: In his 60-year history, no commissioner has ever been fired before the end of their five-year period,” he said.

The remaining time on Burrows and Samuels’ terms would have enabled Democrats to maintain a majority until 2026.

Burrows, considering legal options, tapped lawyers Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, founder of Partners of Washington Boutique Katz Bank’s Kumin.

Samuel is also considering taking litigation.

In a 28th of January, Lucas, the Agency’s only Republican Republican, recognized that the terminations knead the powers of the agency. But EEOC will remove opportunities for non -binary gender markers from bias charging intake to adapt to Trump’s recent executive order, which only recognizes two genders, she said.

Lucas also called for interrupting guidance in the agency on the protection of gender identity in the workplace, but noticed that she needs a commission reconciliation to do so.