EXCLUSIVE — Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) is calling on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to release more detailed information about antisemitism in the workplace in the wake of Hamas’s attack against Israel.
Cassidy, who is the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, sent a letter to the EEOC on Monday evening asking about the agency’s efforts to investigate workplace discrimination and called on the EEOC to investigate antisemitism targeted at Jewish workers.
The EEOC was formed as part of the Civil Rights Act and is designed to enforce civil rights laws regarding workplace discrimination.
In the letter, Cassidy notes that the agency’s enforcement and litigation statistics show that religion-based discrimination charges have more than doubled since 2021. He said, though, that the EEOC’s statistics “offer little-to-no information on what the agency tracks as religion-based discrimination.”
Religion-based charges made up nearly 20% of all discrimination charges in fiscal 2022, according to Cassidy, who pointed out that the EEOC has the technical ability to analyze this data, given that the agency has previously said that a lot of coronavirus vaccine-related charges were filed on religious grounds.
“Your agency is more than capable to parse religion-based data,” he added.
Cassidy then listed several questions that he demanded the agency answer by Nov. 4. For instance, how many charges of discrimination has EEOC received regarding workplace discrimination and harassment of Jewish employees since the terrorist attack against Israel last October?
Cassidy also requested a breakdown of the religious-based discrimination charges and how many of those charges have alleged antisemitic conduct or harassment. He also demanded information about how many times the EEOC filed lawsuits on behalf of charging parties in said cases.
“EEOC needs to address religion-based discrimination charges to protect Jewish and Israeli workers in the face of rising antisemitism,” Cassidy said. “The rise in antisemitic incidents underscores why it is imperative EEOC stays abreast of pervasive workplace harassment issues.”
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A spokeswoman for the EEOC confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the agency has received the letter.
“We will continue to work with our partners in Congress to prevent and remedy unlawful employment discrimination and advance equal employment opportunity for all,” she said.