Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, SENATE NEWS—Senate confirms Trump’s nominees for EEOC member and DOL solicitor roles, (Oct 8, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

Worker’s rights organizations asserted that the confirmations help to advance the administration’s dismantling of established worker protections.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Brittany Panuccio of Florida as a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, restoring the quorum necessary to make major policy and enforcement decisions. The Senate also confirmed Jonathan Berry as the Solicitor of the Department of Labor (DOL). Several organizations criticized the Senate’s confirmation of the two Trump administration nominees.

Panuccio confirmation. In her opening statement, Panuccio stated, “Americans have the right to be treated in the workplace as individuals, not members of a particular race or group, and to be judged on the content of their character, skills, and abilities rather than the color of their skin and their sex.” Panuccio’s confirmation restores the EEOC’s quorum.

Social justice group Equal Rights Advocates (ERA) condemned Panuccio’s confirmation, however, arguing in a statement that “[h]er confirmation hands the Trump administration the vote needed to complete its systematic dismantling of the EEOC’s independence and accelerate[s] attacks on civil rights protections for workers nationwide.” Panuccio’s role in crafting the Trump administration’s 2020 rule on sexual assault and harassment “significantly weakened protections against sexual harassment in schools by making it harder to report sexual violence and narrowing its definition,” ERA stated. ERA also emphasized Panuccio’s “extremely limited experience in civil rights and employment law,” which it describes as being “devoted to making it harder for workers who have experienced discrimination and harassment to get relief.”

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) also criticized Panuccio’s confirmation, arguing that she “will arrive on the job with little relevant experience in the complex legal and policy issues within the EEOC’s jurisdiction.” NELP continued, “Her confirmation process made clear that Panuccio was selected to be a rubber stamp for President Trump’s hostile takeover of the EEOC.”

Berry confirmation. In Berry’s opening statement, he expressed pride in his law firm’s focus on challenging “the previous administration’s overreach, from OSHA’s unlawful COVID vaccine mandate to ETA’s illegal intrusion of DEI into registered apprenticeships to EBSA’s encouragement of ESG under ERISA, to the detriment of retirement security.” He stated that he has “[used] those experiences to refine [his] thinking on employment law, in hopes of contributing to a better understanding of how the law can and should build up the dignity of labor.”

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) opposed Berry’s confirmation, arguing that “[i]mplementing his recommendations for the DOL would harm workers throughout the United States by undermining key civil rights and worker protections, resulting in less accountability for discrimination at work, greater economic uncertainty, increased workplace hazards, and limited job opportunities for women, workers of color, LGBTQI+ workers, workers with disabilities, and many other workers throughout the country.” They argue it is necessary that the Solicitor of Labor have a demonstrated commitment to promoting the well-being and rights of working people to ensure strong enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and other laws essential to protecting workers and ensuring they are fully able to assert their rights. NWLC zeroed in on Berry’s critique of the disparate impact doctrine and stated, “Berry’s deep antipathy toward worker protections and his Project 2025 policy proposals have already wreaked havoc on civil rights at DOL.”

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