The head of USDA’s civil rights office, Trump nominee Naomi Earp, said during a House hearing on Tuesday that some people file multiple complaints of workplace discrimination as a way to punish their managers, “a pretty effective tool” in her view. “These remarks show me — and should show anyone who’s watching — that Ms. Earp isn’t the right person for this job,” said Agriculture subcommittee chairwoman Marcia Fudge afterward.
During the hearing, Fudge said only two employees won workplace complaints filed with Earp’s office in the past year, out of 300 complaints received. “I don’t understand how this is possible,” Fudge said. Staff workers in the civil rights office described a “culture of favoritism” and a “deliberate attempt” to push high-ranking black workers out of the office, said Fudge.
Earp, who has run the office since January while waiting for a Senate vote on her nomination for assistant secretary for civil rights, did not directly address the questions about handling of discrimination complaints or staffing. “My predecessor…left a lot of housekeeping to do,” Earp said in describing her arrival at USDA. In listing achievements, she cited a 175-day reduction, to 420 days, in the time needed to investigate employee complaints of discrimination and progress against sexual harassment and assault at the Forest Service.
When Rep. Dusty Johnson, South Dakota Republican, asked why there were “every year, a dozen or more repeat filers,” Earp said some “frequent filers” were motivated by dissatisfaction at the outcome of previous complaints. Some “often file because they can…They don’t have to think their complaint is serious,” she said. Others “use EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) complaints to punish managers and supervisors. It is a pretty effective tool.” Earp said she is the subject of an EEO complaint.
“I have serious, serious concerns about a great deal of Ms. Earp’s testimony,” said Fudge, Ohio Democrat, in a statement that called Earp’s remarks on repeat filers “absolutely horrifying.”
“Her comments perpetuate the conspiracy theory that accusations are fake and enables a culture of victim blaming at USDA. This rhetoric seeks to preemptively absolve bad actors at the Department of the role they may play in these cases,” said Fudge. “What is clearly worse though, is that this is the person in charge of protecting all employees at USDA.”
Earp chaired the U.S. Equal Employment Commission during the closing years of the George W. Bush administration and, now 69, came out of retirement to take the civil rights post at USDA. She was nominated in February 2018 but with some Democratic senators skeptical of Earp’s record, the nomination died at the end of the year. She was renominated this year. Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue effectively put her in charge of the office in January by naming her deputy assistant secretary.
During the Bush era, Earp was EEOC vice chair for three years, beginning in 2003 and was elevated to chair the commission in September 2006. An Obama appointee took over as commission leader in early 2009 and Earp resigned in June 2009 to become director of the office of opportunity at the Library of Congress.
“I know exactly what discrimination looks like,” Earp told the Agriculture subcommittee, recounting how she decided to go to law school after time as a social worker in Newport News, Virginia.
Fudge said Earp’s office failed to provide information about turnover in her office ahead of Tuesday’s hearing. During the hearing, she referred to a statement by Shawn McGruder, a former staffer in the civil rights office who said Earp favored white staff over blacks.
“When am I going to get the data I requested?” Fudge asked. “As soon as possible,” said Earp, during the final minutes of the hearing.
To watch a video of the hearing, click here.