James Comer Presses Experts On EEOC Investigations Into 'Unlawful' Race-Based Hiring Practices

last year

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) spoke about race-based hiring practices.

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00:00State Attorneys General to warn companies with unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion

00:04policies of the plain language of Title VII, prohibiting discrimination in employment settings.

00:09Can you speak about the progress of these efforts in Indiana?

00:14Oh, yeah.

00:15I appreciate the question.

00:17We continue to monitor these companies, and you're right, it was Fortune 100.

00:23And so we're basically doing that through their public reporting these days and their

00:29filings with the SEC and other places like that.

00:33What obstacles have you encountered throughout this process?

00:36With the companies, it's mostly just the idea that, you know, the wokeness of the situation,

00:44I would say, the idea that you have to discriminate someone against people in order to please

00:51others.

00:52Have you guys had obstacles?

00:53And really the weakness of a C-suite to stand up on principle and morals and do the right

00:56thing for everybody.

00:57Have you had obstacles from Blue State Attorney Generals?

01:00They wrote, I believe they wrote a competing letter that was wrong on the points.

01:05In order to do what those Attorneys General wanted to have done in the letter, you have

01:09to gut the Civil Rights Act, right, which is pretty plain on its face that you're not

01:15supposed to discriminate on sex, religion, color, at all.

01:21And so the only way to do what those Attorneys Generals want to have done is to gut Title

01:28VII.

01:29So what could the EEOC be doing for states who are seeking to end unlawful employment

01:33practices?

01:34Well, I, you know, I associate with the fellow next to me in his testimony when he said that

01:41you've got to rein the EEOC back in.

01:45They have taken liberties, and that's to put it charitably, regarding the interpretation

01:51on Bostock and other similar cases.

01:55And so until you get the reforms that the gentleman was talking about done, it's going

02:01to be hard.

02:02Or get people who respect the rule of law in there.

02:05Right.

02:06Mr. Berry, in your testimony you discussed how the EEOC recently filed a lawsuit against

02:10Sheets, Incorporated, alleging racially discriminatory hiring practices.

02:13It's my understanding the EEOC has declined to enforce Title VII against other companies

02:20with actual and literally explicit restrictions in their employment practices that are based

02:25on race.

02:26So is the EEOC suing companies over seemingly neutral policies like requiring criminal background

02:30checks and appropriate use of enforcement resources in light of more explicit policies

02:35based on race at U.S. companies that you have observed in your work?

02:40That's 100 percent correct, Mr. Chairman.

02:42The EEOC is going out of its way to develop these disparate impact lawsuits that are really

02:48rather intricate, like the Sheets lawsuit, and ignoring, as best we can tell, charges

02:56against companies that just right there in big print on their websites say we are discriminating

03:01on the basis of race.

03:02So what should the EEOC be doing about unlawful company DEI practices based exclusively on

03:08race?

03:09The EEOC should be taking very serious investigatory and litigation action against those companies

03:17that are transgressing the core text of Title VII.

03:20Ms. Stettman, we have recently seen the EEOC issue new guidance on sexual harassment in

03:25the workplace.

03:26It's the first time since 1999.

03:29In your work with the Independent Women's Forum, can you describe how your organization

03:33is committed to protecting men and women in the workplace and how EEOC's new guidance

03:38might jeopardize safety and freedom of employees?

03:43In the microphone.

03:44Absolutely.

03:45So there are instances where we have an over and under enforcement problem, right?

03:52As my fellow witnesses have said, we see facial violations of companies that announce programs

04:00that are clearly contrary to the plain text of Title VII and the interpretation of Title

04:05VII.

04:06And yet we see no enforcement of those.

04:09And then we see sort of these witch hunts on other topics.

04:14And in this case, we see the EEOC interpreting the word sex way beyond not just what the

04:19text says, but way beyond what Bostock says.

04:22And putting women in the situation in work where in any other context, the behavior of

04:28their colleagues would be considered harassment, would be what the EEOC is actually supposed

04:32to be protecting women against.

04:34And yet they're doing nothing.

04:35They're actually, or worse than nothing, they're encouraging it.

04:37Well, so in my last question, can you explain what actions the EEOC can take to appropriately

04:43interpret Supreme Court precedent and make clear that it is protecting supports men and

04:48women in their workplace?

04:50Yeah, it would start with rescinding the most recent guidance where they explicitly go beyond

04:55Bostock.

04:56Bostock is very clear.

04:58It says it does not apply to single sex spaces, to locker rooms, to showers, to bathrooms.

05:02But this guidance explicitly does apply in those places.

05:06So it goes well beyond Bostock.

05:08And again, these are exactly the places where female employees are likely to encounter males,

05:14you know, identifying as females in a very, in a way that very, like, is very invasive

05:19to women's privacy, to their safety even, and makes them very, very, very uncomfortable

05:25at work.

05:26Right.

05:27Well, thank you very much.

05:28I now recognize Ranking Member Ocasio-Cortez for her question.

05:33Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.

05:36Ms. Wiley, I...

James Comer Presses Experts On EEOC Investigations Into 'Unlawful' Race-Based Hiring Practices

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