05-01-2025
Acting EEOC chair Andrea Lucas announced Shannon Royce as her new chief of staff. In announcing Royce’s hire, Lucas said that she was overseeing the “most ambitious civil rights agenda since practically the 1960s and 1970s.” Royce is the former Christian Employers Alliance (CEA) president, having left the organization in December. The group has ongoing lawsuits against the EEOC based on its policies around gender identity and abortion protections. The lawsuits challenge the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act rules and anti-harassment guidance. Royce has publicly shared her opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. While Royce was president, CEA successfully challenged a mandate requiring its member organizations to pay or provide gender transition services, including surgeries, procedures, and counseling. She was a member of President Trump’s first term administration, leading the Center for Faith-Based and Community Partnerships.
As chief of staff, Royce can influence EEOC decisions on what litigation it pursues on behalf of workers, whether to settle claims that the EEOC brings, what policies the agency should pursue and prioritize, and what amicus briefs the EEOC should sign on to. She will also direct the Office of Field Programs. That office oversees all investigations into claims of workplace discrimination across the country.
Royce’s hiring may suggest that the EEOC will focus on Christian rights in its approach to workplace compliance with the anti-discrimination laws. The Trump Administration has said that addressing anti-Christian bias is one of its priorities.