Alexander: Administration fails to protect victims of discrimination

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) issued a report Monday that shows the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) made mistakes with discrimination complaints costing taxpayers millions.

Alexander’s report said the EEOC “is pursuing many questionable cases” sometimes with “aggressive means” resulting in court losses at taxpayers’ expense.

{mosads}“Courts have found EEOC’s litigation tactics to be so egregious they have ordered EEOC to pay defendants’ attorney’s fees in ten cases since 2011. The courts have criticized EEOC for misuse of its authority, poor expert analysis, and pursuit of novel cases unsupported by law,” the report said.

Alexander serves as ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which oversees the EEOC. He said the EEOC has more than 70,000 unresolved discrimination cases.

Alexander’s report concluded that “the agency is increasingly demonstrating poor judgment and using questionable tactics in pursuit of cases that are not fulfilling the EEOC’s objective of protecting employees from workplace discrimination.”

In committee last week, Alexander voted against the re-nomination of P. David Lopez as general counsel to the EEOC because of the court losses.

“During his time as general counsel, Mr. Lopez has been chiefly responsible for the agency’s pursuit of high-profile lawsuits that have been rebuked by the courts — and taxpayers are paying the cost of these rebukes,” Alexander said.