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Earlier last month, the Senate confirmed over 100 of President Trump's nominees en bloc in a 51‑47 party-line vote. The confirmed nominees included Brittany Bull Panuccio as an EEOC Commissioner, Andrew Rogers as Administrator of the DOL's Wage and Hour Division, Jonathan Berry as Solicitor for the DOL.
EEOC Commissioner Brittany Bull Panuccio
Prior to her May 6, 2025, nomination by President Trump, Panuccio worked as an assistant US Attorney in Florida handling criminal and civil appeals. She previously served in the US Department of Education as a special counselor during Trump's first term in office, where she was involved in preparing guidance under Title IX (sex discrimination in higher education). Her LinkedIn page states that she co-authored the 2018 draft of the Title IX regulations before leaving the Education Department. Panuccio's confirmation restores the quorum to the EEOC with three members (two Republicans and one Democrat). Her term runs until July 2029, unless vacated earlier.
Now that the EEOC's quorum has returned, we should expect changes in key enforcement and regulatory strategies including: aggressive enforcement of anti-DEI positions; enforcement of anti-religion bias or failure to accommodation religious needs, with a particular focus on anti-Semitism; regulatory action to modify the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act rules, especially related to accommodations for abortion; reinterpretation of the US Supreme Court's decision in Bostock, with every effort to narrow protections based on gender identify and sexual orientation, including relaxed enforcement; and abandonment of the disparate impact theory of liability for discrimination cases.
Wage and Hour Administrator Andrew Rogers
Rogers served in the first Trump Administration in the Wage and Hour Division and served at the EEOC as Chief Counsel to Acting Chair, Andrea Lucas, before his March 31, 2025, nomination by President Trump to be the DOL's Wage and Hour Administrator. According to his confirmation testimony, Rogers believes most employers comply with the law and that the WHD should focus on guidance, as well as enforcement.
DOL Solicitor Jonathan Berry
Formally nominated by President Trump on March 31, 2025, Berry previously served as Chief Counsel to Trump and was a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the DOL during Trump's first term. Berry authored the DOL chapter, "Mandate for Leadership," in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which includes recommendations to allow employees to accumulate time off in lieu of overtime pay, expanding the workweek standard for calculating overtime, and the elimination of EEO-1 data collection. At his June confirmation hearing, Berry attempted to distance himself from the manifesto, telling lawmakers his participation in the conservative blueprint was merely scholarly. Berry clerked for US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
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