Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas is shifting the agency’s priorities away from longstanding efforts to protect vulnerable and underserved workers, emphasizing enforcement for people she says have been overlooked — including white men.
In late February Lucas sent a letter to leaders of Fortune 500 companies reiterating guidance she issued warning that corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies can be unlawful if employment decisions are based, even in part, on race, sex or other protected characteristics. “The EEOC stands ready to combat such discrimination,” she wrote, adding, “We are the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, not the Equitable Employment Outcomes Commission.” In an accompanying statement she urged corporate America “to reject identity politics as its solution to society’s ills,” and added, “The only lawful way to stop discrimination on the basis of race or sex, is to stop discriminating on the basis of race or sex.”
Lucas has opened probes and pursued cases that spotlight alleged discrimination against white workers. In a 2024 investigation the EEOC is examining Nike’s hiring goals and career development practices to determine whether they disadvantage white people. The agency secured a $500,000 settlement from a Planned Parenthood affiliate over charges of harassment and discrimination involving white employees. Lucas also posted a video on X directly encouraging white men who believe they’ve been disadvantaged due to race or sex to contact the EEOC; the clip drew millions of views.
“We’re working hard to attack race discrimination in every single form that it comes,” Lucas told NPR, stressing that the law applies regardless of who is the victim or the alleged oppressor. “If you’re being treated differently based on race, the exact same rules apply to you.”
The EEOC was created by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to remedy the deep racial injustices faced by Black Americans. At its peak in the early 1980s, the agency employed more than 3,000 people; today it has about 1,740, with hundreds of departures since President Trump returned to the White House. Title VII protects all workers from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, but limited staff and resources have always required the agency to prioritize cases it believes will have the greatest impact.
Under Lucas, staff continue to process tens of thousands of discrimination complaints, recovering money for victims of sexual harassment, denial of opportunities to Black applicants, and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, among others. But former EEOC leaders and some current civil rights advocates say Lucas is devoting scarce agency resources to pursue an agenda that departs from the commission’s traditions and purpose.
They point to several moves under Lucas’ watch: a probe of DEI initiatives; the decision to dismiss multiple lawsuits the agency had been pursuing on behalf of transgender and nonbinary people; reversals of earlier decisions that had recognized protections for transgender workers; and a rollback of comprehensive harassment guidance. “All of that says to me that there’s a real radical effort to advance one ideological perspective with the resources that they have,” said Charlotte Burrows, who served as EEOC chair during the Biden administration. “Civil rights enforcement should never be a partisan political game.”
Early last year President Trump removed Burrows and fellow Democratic commissioner Jocelyn Samuels before their terms expired — a move unprecedented in agency history — which enabled Republicans to secure a majority on the bipartisan commission.
Lucas traces her focus on equal opportunity to childhood experiences in Ohio. Her father, a religious man who worked in sales, refused to take clients to strip clubs and bars as pressured by his employer and was subsequently fired. The family lost its income for months; her father took a worse job and was bound by a noncompete. Lucas says the episode altered her family’s economic trajectory and convinced her that ensuring equal opportunity is paramount. “Because while our work is deeply important to try to remedy harm, in the best-case scenario, it doesn’t happen at all,” she said.
That emphasis on equal access, she says, informs her critique of DEI programs that she believes sometimes cross legal lines. In the wake of the George Floyd protests, many corporations expanded DEI efforts. Lucas argues that previous EEOC leadership did not sufficiently police how companies implemented those initiatives, allowing legally questionable practices to proliferate. “I think that the prior administration really viewed that word as sort of a magic wand to ignore the implications,” she said, adding that prior commissioners may have pulled punches when enforcement was warranted.
Burrows disputes that account, calling it “pure fiction.” She says the agency under her leadership adhered to the law and that there was no evidence DEI-related charges from white workers were being ignored. NPR requested a racial breakdown of discrimination charges filed with the EEOC since 2021; the agency declined to provide that information.
Lucas’ public outreach has been explicit. In a widely watched X video she asked directly: “Are you a white male who’s experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws. Contact the EEOC as soon as possible.” She said the video was prompted by an essay about a generation of men feeling shut out of opportunity and aimed to signal that the EEOC’s doors are open to everyone.
Her stance has prompted pushback from former commissioners and civil rights experts. Days after Lucas’ Fortune 500 letter, a group called EEO Leaders — composed of former EEOC commissioners and staff — sent an open letter to companies saying Lucas’ guidance “may have raised more legal questions than it answered” and urging employers not to abandon DEI efforts. Chai Feldblum, who held a Democratic seat on the commission from 2010 to 2019 and now heads EEO Leaders, stressed employers can lawfully run affinity groups and training that advance DEI if they do not exclude people based on protected traits. She warned Lucas’ message is scaring employers away from taking positive steps and could undermine efforts to curb real discrimination. “This is not helpful in terms of stopping discrimination — real discrimination — in our country,” Feldblum said.
Supreme Court precedent allows limited employer actions to correct clear race and sex imbalances in some circumstances; Feldblum said current commissioners might wish to see those cases reconsidered.
That debate has moved into litigation. In February the EEOC sued Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast after a male employee filed a 2024 charge alleging discrimination over an off-site networking event reserved for female employees. About 250 women reportedly attended the Mohegan Sun event, which included talks by female executives; some stayed overnight. The company says women make up roughly 15% of its workforce. Lucas has declined to comment on specifics of the case but said women-only career-advancement events are common. “But commonness doesn’t necessarily make it permissible,” she said, posing a hypothetical in which men alone were given similar retreats. She added that if employers want to provide networking, training, mentoring or other perks, they must do so without regard to sex or race.
Critics note that men still outnumber women nearly 2-to-1 in senior executive roles nationwide, arguing that targeted efforts can be lawful and necessary to address entrenched disparities. Supporters of Lucas counter that enforcing equal treatment across all races and sexes is consistent with Title VII.
As the EEOC under Lucas pursues cases and revises guidance, former commissioners and civil rights advocates are watching closely. The commission’s direction will shape how employers design DEI programs and how the agency allocates limited enforcement resources — balancing traditional civil rights priorities with Lucas’ stated focus on ensuring that alleged discrimination against any worker, regardless of race or sex, is investigated and redressed.
