By Nick Niedzwiadek and Olivia Olander

FIRST IN SHIFT: Republican EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas sought comments directly from anti-abortion groups on the commission’s enforcement plans, according to public records surfaced by ethics watchdog American Oversight.

“[I]t’s important to shed light on public officials who are speaking with groups at the center of that nationwide effort to roll back protections” for abortion and LGBTQ rights, American Oversight Executive Director Heather Sawyer said in a statement.

The records include emails between Lucas and the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom, which has played a key role against abortion rights, on several occasions since the beginning of last year, including Lucas asking the organization to comment on the EEOC’s planned law enforcement priorities. According to the documents, she also solicited input from the Family Research Council, another influential religious organization on the right, and attended a Christmas party hosted by ADF and the Republican Attorneys General Association.

“Like all Commissioners, I routinely meet and speak with stakeholders. The Commission values robust feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders with diverse viewpoints, and to this end, each Commissioner encourages stakeholders to provide comments and feedback on the Commission’s work, including our Strategic Enforcement Plan," Lucas said in a statement.

Neither ADF or FRC provided comment.

Lucas has arguably been the most consequential member of the EEOC during Biden’s time in office.

Until Kalpana Kotagal was sworn in this summer, Democratic appointees did not hold a majority on the five-person panel. Lucas was easily the swingiest commissioner, joining Chair Charlotte Burrows and Democrat Jocelyn Samuels far more than either Keith Sonderling or former Commissioner Janet Dhillon on tight votes — even as she was still able to functionally veto parts of the agenda by forming a bloc with the other Republicans.

Additionally Lucas stands out for her use of so-called commissioner charges, an infrequently used process that allows individual members to initiate a discrimination investigation without needing a majority vote. She accounted for 12 of the 29 commissioner charges in fiscal year 2022, according to the latest available EEOC data.

Bloomberg Law reported last November that a major focus of Lucas’ commissioner charges was companies’ abortion-related travel policies, particularly after the Supreme Court decision that wiped away Roe v. Wade. 

That was one of the things that put Lucas on American Oversight’s radar, spokesperson Amanda Teuscher said. “It was notable to see the close relationship between the group and a commissioner on an independent federal agency tasked with enforcing workplace civil rights.”

The increased attention comes as the EEOC is also grappling with a spate of discrimination claims being brought by Stephen Miller’s America First Legal against high-profile organizations over their diversity and hiring initiatives — with Major League Baseball being the most recent example.

GOOD MORNING. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 11. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. It’s been 211 days since the Senate received Julie Su’s nomination. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to [email protected] and [email protected]. Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @NickNiedz and @oliviaolanderr.

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UAW LATEST: Unionized workers at Mack Trucks went on strike Monday after rejecting a tentative five-year agreement.

Members of the United Auto Workers voted nearly three-to-one against ratification, the union posted on social media, putting about 4,000 workers on the picket line.

— Meanwhile Stellantis on Monday laid off an additional 570 workers as a result of the ongoing UAW strike against the Big Three, the Detroit Free Press reports.

— Separately, General Motors came to an agreement with the Canadian union Unifor, the union announced Tuesday. GM had faced a picket line earlier this week after the union accused them of “stubbornly refusing” the terms brokered with Ford as part of typical pattern bargaining, Reuters reports.

Hanging over it all: “UAW holds off on widening strike citing 'significant progress' in talks,” from Nick on Friday.

EMPHASIS ON ‘STUDENT’: Dartmouth College lawyers on Thursday argued that the school’s basketball team is made up of students, not employees with the right to unionize, The Associated Press reports, after players filed a petition to unionize with SEIU last month.

Ivy League schools don’t offer athletic scholarships and Dartmouth doesn’t make money off the basketball team, the AP reported on the school lawyers’ arguments. A union attorney said the school’s figures don’t account for donations generated by the team, AP reported.

ROLL THE CREDITS: “WGA Votes to Ratify Contract, Officially Ending One of Hollywood's Longest Strikes,” from Variety.

More union news: “Walgreens pharmacy staff walk out, citing unsafe working conditions,” from The Washington Post.

Even more: “Kaiser Permanente strike ends — for now,” from Healthcare Dive.

STAKING CLAIM: Rep. Katie Porter is trying to assert herself as the most labor-friendly candidate to take over late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat in Congress, after longtime labor leader Laphonza Butler was appointed to serve the rest of Feinstein’s term, our Lara Korte reports.

Porter at a weekend event blasted her competitors, California Reps. Barbara Lee and Adam Schiff, “for accepting past contributions from corporate PACs, even as they have vowed not to take the money in this race,” Lara reports.

More on the Hill: “The inside story of how Newsom picked Butler for Senate,” from our Christopher Cadelago and Melanie Mason.

CASTE BILL VETOED: California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Saturday that would have explicitly outlawed caste discrimination in California, dealing a blow to activists hoping to make the state the first in the nation to enact such a ban, our Eric He reports.

The law would have inserted caste into the definition of ancestry, making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of caste under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Fair Employment and Housing Act and education discrimination law.

In his veto message, Newsom said the bill is unnecessary because caste discrimination is already prohibited under existing civil rights protections that "shall be liberally construed."

More state news: “Florida pizza joint owed servers $120,000 after not paying cash wages or for overtime,” from Miami Herald.

Even more: “N.J. has more remote workers than most states. Inside the battle to get employees back to the office,” from NJ Advance Media.

‘VAST SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS’: An economist who tracked women’s workforce participation, the gender pay gap and hiring biases against women has won the Nobel Prize, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Claudia Goldin last week became “the third woman to receive the economics prize since the award started in 1969,” WSJ notes. “The 77-year-old Harvard economist has spent decades analyzing troves of data to produce research illuminating the history of women’s job-market experiences.”

DISABLED APPLICANTS DETERRED: Blind people are often among job-seekers facing accessibility barriers, “including on job boards, tests and screening, and on-the-job training,” Mother Jones reports.

Only two in five blind people are employed, the outlet reports.

“While I’m waiting to get accommodated, the next people are already being interviewed and hired,” Amy Albin, a blind 25-year-old in New Jersey, told the outlet.

More workplace news: “'You could feel the cutthroatness': Droves of men took over this women's tech fair,” from NPR.

At 8:30 a.m. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the producer price index for September.

At 10 a.m. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce holds a virtual discussion on artificial intelligence. Participants include EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling.

At 11:30 a.m. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su delivers remarks in New York at a ceremony to unveil a memorial for the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

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— “Biden's support of labor has imperiled support from the business world,” from NBC News.
— “Chocolate Factory Failed to Evacuate Workers Before Deadly Blast, OSHA Says,” from The New York Times.
— ”Hiring Is Rising Along With Rates. Are They on a Collision Course?,” from The New York Times.
— “The ‘Hot’ Labor Market Isn’t Helping a Certain Group of Jobseekers,” from The Wall Street Journal.
— “Starbucks’ Schultz Gave Illegal Job Threat, NLRB Judge Rules,” from Bloomberg Law.

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