On January 21st President Trump named Commissioner Andrea R. Lucas Acting Chair of the EEOC. And Ms. Lucas made it very clear that she will align the EEOC with President Trump’s platform.
“I am honored to be chosen by President Trump to lead the EEOC, our nation’s premier civil rights agency enforcing federal employment antidiscrimination laws,” Lucas said. “I look forward to restoring evenhanded enforcement of employment civil rights laws for all Americans. In recent years, this agency has remained silent in the face of multiple forms of widespread, overt discrimination. Consistent with the President’s Executive Orders and priorities, my priorities will include rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination; protecting American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination; defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single‑sex spaces at work; protecting workers from religious bias and harassment, including antisemitism; and remedying other areas of recent under-enforcement.”
That statement signifies a definite shift from the EEOC’s strategic initiatives over the last four years. And it offers several takeaways for employers.
Are DEI policies now illegal? Not necessarily, depending on the terms. But you can bet these policies will get intense scrutiny from the EEOC. Do not be surprised if EEOC Requests For Information now include a standard request for any DEI policy. Employers with DEI policies must be prepared to show that hiring and promotion decisions made in accordance with those policies are well supported with objective data which support a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the decision.
Foreign owned employers with operations in the United States should also take heed. Hiring or promoting an employee from your home country over a native US citizen will also get extra scrutiny. Again, be prepared with objective facts which show the decision was based on a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason.
Finally, Chair Lucas’s statement makes it obvious that any employer that allows transgender or transitioning employees to share a bathroom or other “women’s room” with biological women will have engaged in sex discrimination in the eyes of the EEOC.
It is a new day at the EEOC. Employers should plan accordingly.
Tennessee Employment Law 