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The head of the US agency charged with enforcing civil rights in the workplace posted a social media call-out urging white men to come forward if they have experienced race or gender discrimination at work.
“Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or gender? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws,” U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chairwoman Andrea Lucas, a vocal critic of DEI, wrote on Wednesday evening. The post urged eligible workers to reach out to the agency “as soon as possible” and referred users to the agency’s fact sheet on “DEI-related discrimination” for more information.
That document has been criticized by former agency commissioners, calling the DEI initiative legally confusing when “employers can legitimately – and in fact – take proactive steps to identify barriers that have limited the opportunities of applicants and employees based on any protected characteristic.”
Lucas’ post, which has been viewed millions of times, was shared about two hours after the vice president JD Vance He posted an article that he said “describes the evil of DEI and its consequences”, which received millions of views. Lucas responded to Vance’s post, saying: “Exactly @JDVance. And precisely because this widespread, systemic, unlawful discrimination primarily harmed white men, elites didn’t just turn a blind eye; they celebrated it. Absolutely unacceptable; illegal; immoral.”
He said the EEOC “will not rest until this discrimination ends.” Neither the agency nor Vance immediately responded to requests for additional comment.
david glasgowThe executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at NYU School of Law said the social media posts demonstrate a “fundamental misunderstanding of what DEI is.”
“Opponents of DEI present it as a set of illegitimate priorities,” Glasgow said. “It’s really about creating a culture in which you can get the most out of everyone you’re bringing with you, where everyone experiences fairness and equal opportunity, including white men and members of other groups.”
The Meltzer Center tracks lawsuits that have the potential to impact workplace DEI practices, including 57 cases of workplace discrimination. Although there are instances in which this occurs on a case-by-case basis, Glasgow said he has “not seen any kind of systematic evidence that white men are being discriminated against.”
He told that Fortune 500 ceo The overwhelming majority are white men, and relative to their share in the population, the demographic is over-represented in corporate senior leadership, Congressand beyond.
“If DEI has been an engine of discrimination against white males, I would have to say it’s really not doing a very good job of achieving that,” Glasgow said.
Lucas announced in January when he was named acting president that “rooting out unlawful DEI-induced race and gender discrimination” would be a priority. And although he lacked the agency majority needed to act at full strength until the EEOC’s quorum was met in October, he has aggressively pursued that goal.
Lucas sent letters to 20 major law firms asking for information about diversity fellowships and other programs, claiming these could be evidence of discriminatory practices; Many deals with the administration were cut to avoid being targeted by the white HouseAnd the agency last month filed a subpoena enforcement action in federal court to force financial services company Northwestern Mutual to provide information on its DEI practices related to an employee’s discrimination allegation,
“When we see clear indications that an employer’s DEI program may violate federal prohibitions against discrimination, we will use the full extent of our authority – including subpoena enforcement – to investigate and obtain the information necessary to take appropriate action,” Lucas said in a press release on Nov. 20.
It is “unusual” and “problematic” for the agency’s head to single out a particular demographic group for civil rights enforcement, according to former EEOC Chair Jenny Yang, now a partner at the law firm Outten & Golden. “This suggests some type of priority treatment,” Yang said. “It’s not something that feels like a level playing field to me.”
On the other hand, the agency has done the opposite for transgender workers, whose discrimination complaints have not been prioritized or been dropped altogether, Yang explained. The EEOC has limited resources and must prioritize which cases to pursue accordingly. But treating charges differently based on employees’ identities goes against the agency’s mission, Yang said. “It concerns me that a message is being sent that the EEOC only cares about some workers and not others.”
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