President Donald Trump nominates Brittany Bull Panuccio for one of the open commissioner spots of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If she is confirmed, then the EEOC would once again have a quorum and would make a 2-1 Republican majority. Ms. Panuccio is currently an assistant U.S. attorney in Florida, and she appears to have pretty limited experience in the employment and labor law sector.
How Did We Get Here?
The current lack of a quorum is a result of President Trump’s January termination of two Democratic commissions, Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrows. As I wrote about in April 2025, Charlotte Burrows has filed a lawsuit, challenging Trump’s authority to terminate her without cause. [Read More: EEOC Commissioner Fired by Trump Files Lawsuit Over Termination] At the moment, the EEOC has only two commissioners, Andrea Lucas (Republican) and Kalpana Kotagal (Democrat), out of a total of five positions on the EEOC. The EEOC has been operating without a quorum since January 2025, which limits its ability to issue new guidance and set enforcement targets.
Does it Matter Who Trump Nominates for the EEOC?
For most employees bringing claims with the help of an attorney, it won’t matter that much who’s running the EEOC. We have to file our charges with the EEOC first before we can bring a claim, and that process won’t change. The EEOC has recently instructed its investigators not to investigate gender identity and sexual harassment claims, for example, based off of another of Trump’s executive orders, but plaintiff’s attorneys can and will still bring those claims under existing federal law and Supreme Court precedent. [Read More: EEOC No Longer Investigating Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation Claims Under Title VII] The EEOC’s pretty useless as an investigatory agency anyway, so for those of us representing employees, we’ll continue as normal.
The EEOC will likely continue its scrutiny of DEI programs in the workplace, as well as focus attention less on gender identity and sexual orientation issues in the workplace. You can expect less guidance on pronoun usage and bathroom governance. The EEOC could also place renewed focus on religious discrimination claims, for example.
Implications for South Carolina Employees
But to me the bigger implications are constitutional, and those relate to the president’s authority to remove commissioners without cause before their terms are over. The Supreme Court will most likely be reviewing that very issue at some point in the future, either with Charlotte Burrows’ lawsuit or in any of the other litigation resulting from other federal agency heads being terminated. Those may take some time to work their way up to the Supremes, however.
In the context of the EEOC, however, I don’t expect these changes at the commission level on whoever Trump nominates to impact my own cases representing South Carolina employees. We will continue to file our charges and lawsuits as we have for years, so if you have experienced harassment, discrimination, or retaliation in the workplace, you can reach out to our office at (864) 233-4351 or via our Contact Us page.
