EEOC chief shifts focus to investigating DEI but the methods provoke an
outcry
[April 04, 2025]
By ALEXANDRA OLSON and CLAIRE SAVAGE
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — The acting chief of the top federal agency for
protecting worker rights has signaled a pivot toward prioritizing
President Donald Trump's campaign to stamp out diversity, equity and
inclusion programs in the private and public sectors.
The initial steps taken by Andrea Lucas, acting chief of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, have earned her strong backing from
the Trump administration, which has moved against DEI through embattled
executive orders that dismantled programs at federal agencies and
threatened investigations and stiff financial penalties for federal
contractors that engage in “illegal” diversity-related practices. Trump
recently nominated Lucas, who has long been an outspoken critic DEI
practices she argues result in discriminatory employment preferences, to
a new five-year term as commissioner.
But former Democratic EEOC officials and prominent civil rights groups
have accused Lucas of taking shortcuts that supersede her authority and
they have urged employers to be wary of her directives and guidance, if
not altogether ignore them.
The most recent flashpoint involves two “technical assistance” documents
issued by the EEOC along with the Department of Justice attempting to
clarify what might constitute “DEI-related Discrimination at Work" and
providing guidance on how workers can file complaints over such
concerns.
The documents take broad aim at practices such as training, employee
resource groups and fellowship programs, warning such programs —
depending on how they're constructed — could run afoul of Title VII of
the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on
race and gender.
The documents followed letters that Lucas sent to 20 prominent law firms
demanding information about diversity fellowships and other programs she
claimed could be evidence of discriminatory practices.
A group of 10 former Democratic commissioners and counsels released its
own letter Thursday warning the legal community the DEI documents give
the misleading impression that common programs “are fraught with legal
peril" and dismissed them as reflecting Lucas's personal opinion. The
letter offered counter-guidance on how employers should continue
implementing training and other practices that EEOC policy documents
encourage to prevent discrimination.
Last month, seven of the same former EEOC officials sent Lucas a letter
warning that she appeared to exceed her authority with her demands for
information from the 20 law firms without first launching a formal
investigation. A group of prominent civil rights organizations went a
step further in their own letter to Lucas, urging the law firms to
ignore her demands because they have no legal obligation to reply.
“This isn’t how the EEOC works. No single commissioner — not even the
Chair — has the authority to send threatening letters demanding private
information from employers," said Noreen Farrell, director of Equal
Rights Advocates, one of the civil rights organizations that signed onto
the response led by the National Women's Law Center. "The EEOC Chair
can’t just rewrite decades of settled civil rights law with a hastily
written memo.”
Jenny Yang, a former EEOC commissioner under former President Barack
Obama, said Lucas’ letters to the 20 law firms were without precedent at
the EEOC, which initiates most investigations in response to complaints
filed by workers. In very rare cases, a commissioner can file their own
charge against an employer but it wouldn’t be made public and would
require the commissioner to provide evidence of possible discrimination
under penalty of perjury, Yang said.
[to top of second column]
|
Law firms — including some of the 20 targeted by Lucas — are already
coming under pressure to change their approach to diversity and
inclusion in response to separate Trump executive orders designed to
punish them for taking on the president’s rivals as clients and
other actions that have angered him. For example, Skadden, Arps,
Slate, Meagher & Flom recently learned that the president intended
to issue an order targeting it over its pro bono legal work and its
diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The firm has
consequently agreed to review its hiring practices, among other
things.
The 20 law firms targeted in Lucas’ letters did not respond to
questions from The Associated Press about whether they intended to
respond to her demands. Lucas did not respond to request for comment
on the DEI technical assistance documents, and the EEOC declined to
say whether the law firms have any legal obligation to respond to
her letters or whether they would face any penalty for not doing so.
But Lucas, a Republican who was first appointed to the EEOC in 2020,
has long argued that she is not reinterpreting civil rights laws but
rather sounding the alarm that many companies have adopted DEI
practices that cross the line into discrimination. Lucas has argued
the EEOC has turned a blind eye to risky company practices, which
she said proliferated especially after the 2020 racial justice
protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd.
“Far too many employers defend certain types of race or sex
preferences as good, provided they are motivated by business
interests in ‘diversity, equity, or inclusion.’,” Lucas said in a
statement announcing the new technical assistance on DEI.
Many employers are likely to take heed of her warnings as the EEOC
signals that it will be become a powerful ally to workers claiming
discrimination stemming from DEI practices.
Anuradha Hebbar, president of CEO Action for Inclusion & Diversity,
an arm of the influential Society for Human Resource Management,
said the EEOC has especially makes clear that companies should avoid
fellowships, internships and other programs that are only open to
women or certain racial groups.
Stefan Padfield of conservative think tank National Center for
Public Policy Research praised the EEOC's the shift as a much-needed
course correction that will open the floodgates for complaints
against DEI practices that should be deemed illegal.
Lucas has acknowledged that she cannot unilaterally change some of
the agency's guidelines and policies that may contradict Trump's
slew of executive orders, though the EEOC has already moved to drop
seven lawsuits alleging discrimination against transgender and
nonbinary people in response to a presidential order declaring the
government would only recognize the male and female genders.
Changing such policies — including the EEOC's five-year strategic
enforcement plan that pledges support for DEI — would require a
majority vote by the agency's five commissioners. But Trump recently
fired two of those commissioners — both Democrats — before their
terms expired in a move that upended 60 years of precedent for an
agency established by Congress as independent and bipartisan.
In their letter Thursday, the former EEOC officials accused Lucas of
cherry-picking rare instances of discrimination to convey the
message that training and other DEI practices are inherently risky
when in fact most are legally sound.
“Our federal civil rights offices and officials should not be
intimidating or discouraging employers who are working to advance
these goals,” the letter said.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
