Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Transgender employee who resigned from EEOC alleges agency discriminated against transgender and nonbinary employees, (Sep 5, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

A transgender EEOC employee resigned after being forced to actively participate in the systematic erasure of transgender and nonbinary identities from EEOC materials.

Marc Seawright, the former director of information governance and strategy at the EEOC, filed a discrimination and hostile work environment charge against the agency. Seawright, a transgender man, alleged in his complaint that, since becoming acting chair of the EEOC in January 2025, Andrea Lucas has engaged in a sustained pattern of actions and statements promoting illegal discrimination against transgender and nonbinary employees, in violation of Title VII, which ultimately forced him to resign.

EO 14168 implementation. The complaint alleges Lucas’ actions to ratify and implement Executive Order (EO) 14168, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” have “undermined critical workplace protections for transgender and non-binary employees, threatened the EEOC’s mission, and created a hostile work environment.” Seawright alleges that he was increasingly marginalized in the workplace because of his queer and transgender identity, causing severe distress, anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, anger, and sadness.

Forced participation. Specifically, Seawright alleged he was forced into participating in the systematic erasure of transgender and nonbinary identities, having been mandated to review and revise all outreach and training materials, including every public-facing document, website, survey, and educational resource, to: scrub all references to gender identity, gender transition, and sexual orientation; remove any mention of pronouns and inclusive etiquette; restrict discussions on workplace harassment protections beyond binary men and women; and ensure all training and external presentations adhered to these erasures. Seawright’s complaint states, “This alone is an attack on the agency’s mission and the protections afforded to transgender and nonbinary workers under Title VII. However, what made it more disturbing to me was my forced involvement in making it happen.”

Seawright stated in his resignation letter that he was directed to develop technology “to facilitate efforts to transgender people from internal and external documents, and to remove the ability for non-binary individuals to identify themselves as such through the honorific ‘Mx.’” He continued, “It was extraordinarily painful to me to be required to participate in the erasure of my own identity and of my community as a condition of my employment.”

Relief sought. Seawright requests in his complaint that EEOC cease its discriminatory practices, restore employee training, education, and workplace policies, reinstate protections for LGBTQ+ complainants and investigations, and pay compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees.

News: AgencyNews Discrimination SexDiscrimination PublicEmployees GCNNews