The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will reportedly resume considering discrimination cases brought by transgender people after a months-long pause in which staffers were ordered to automatically classify such complaints as meritless.In a July 1 email, EEOC field operations director Thomas Colclough said that the agency will resume processing complaints that fall squarely under legal precedent set by the Supreme Courts decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, according to the Washington Post. The 2020 ruling established that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Related EEOC is burying discrimination cases brought by transgender people Staffers says theyve been directed to essentially classify all new gender identity discrimination cases as meritless. Colclough wrote that cases involving discrimination against trans employees in hiring, discharge, and promotion would once again be considered, though he said nothing about investigations of workplace harassment, the Post noted. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today However, cases involving anti-trans workplace discrimination will now receive a heightened level of review, including by a senior attorney and the office of acting EEOC chair Andrea Lucas.The president named Lucas the agencys acting chair in January, after he fired two Democratic EEOC commissioners as well as the agencys general counsel. Lucas opposes both DEI initiatives and federal civil rights protections for transgender people and has said that her priorities includerooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination.Following a January 20 executive order declaring that the U.S. government would only recognize an individuals sex as determined by their immutable biological classification as either male or female, Lucas stated that while the agency would continue accepting all discrimination charges filed by workers, complaints that implicate the anti-trans executive order would be elevated to headquarters for review. Since February, the EEOC has moved to drop at least six lawsuits involving discrimination against trans and nonbinary workers. In April, staffers at the EEOC were reportedly instructed to classify new gender identity discrimination cases as code C, the agencys lowest priority and one that staffers said is generally reserved for meritless complaints.According to the Post, its unclear why the EEOC has reversed course. But critics like Equal Rights Advocates executive director Noreen Farrell have pointed out that the agencys position on cases of gender identity discrimination was at odds with Bostock.Adam Harrison, an attorney representing plaintiffs in two of the cases dropped by the EEOC this year, told the Post that while its good news that the agency is once again considering anti-trans discrimination cases, the pause had real consequences.Make no mistake, transgender and nonbinary people whose civil rights were violated were turned away during these last five months, Harrison said. And as long as thats been happening, these peoples rights have been expiring.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.