The U.S. Senate voted this week, on a partisan tally of 50 – 48, to approve a bill (Senate Joint Resolution 13) brought up under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that effectively rescinds new “conciliation” rules that were adopted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) earlier this year. The rules are designed to establish sensible benchmarks to determine whether the agency has engaged in the conciliation process in good faith.
While the new rules arguably bring more consistency to the mandatory conciliation process and should help to eliminate potential abuses, critics – including Congressional Democrats and President Biden – claim that they give employers an unfair advantage over a charging party after a discrimination charge is filed.
Under CRA procedures, the resolution also must be approved by the House of Representatives and signed by President Biden, both of which are expected to occur within the very near future.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.