The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency charged with rooting out race- and sex-based discrimination in the workplace, is soliciting claims from an unusual source: white men. The commission’s chair, Andrea Lucas, posted a video last week urging white men to contact the EEOC as soon as possible.
Vice President JD Vance, who called diversity, equity and inclusion programs “discrimination primarily against white men,” reposted the video.
The solicitation has prompted ire and controversy over a redirection at the EEOC, which has traditionally focused on protecting the rights of women and minorities. Lucas, a vocal critic of DEI, already had drawn strong criticism for stamping out diversity programs opposed by President Donald Trump.
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“Andrea Lucas was handpicked by Trump to lead the EEOC and his mission of weaponizing the agency to attack hardworking people across the country,” Lauren Khouri, senior director of workplace equality at the National Women’s Law Center said in a statement. “As acting chair, she has made clear she is a Trump loyalist dedicated to carrying out his radical crusade against programs that encourage diversity, equity and inclusion.”
However, conservatives welcomed Lucas’ video, saying change was overdue at the EEOC.
Lucas, who was appointed to the EEOC by Trump in 2020, was confirmed for a second five-year term in July and was elevated to chair in November. A vocal critic of DEI, Lucas has been known for stamping out diversity programs, rolling back Biden-era protections for transgender workers and emphasizing religious rights and liberty in the workplace.
Her ascendance at the agency underscores how its initiatives and focus have changed.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The EEOC launched in 1965 to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by investigating workplace discrimination claims. In order to sue an employer in federal court, a claim must first be made with this agency. Historically, the EEOC — designed to be nonpartisan — responded to filed complaints, rather than soliciting them.
That has now changed.
“Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex?” Lucas said in her video, posted on X. “You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws.”
She said the EEOC is committed to eliminating all forms of discrimination by private-sector employers, “including against white male applicants and employees.” She concluded by urging white men to log onto the agency’s website to learn more about “DEI-related discrimination.”
Chai Feldblum, who served on the EEOC under President Barack Obama, said she was shocked by Lucas’ request, saying it was outside the agency’s scope.
“EEOC doesn’t go out looking for discrimination,” Feldblum said. “It’s there to be responsive to charges that come in.”
DEI culture wars
DEI programs have come under fire during Trump’s second term after he signed an executive order aimed at ending “equity initiatives” less than a week after his inauguration.
DEI programs were created to provide opportunities to communities and ethnicities that historically had been denied access to certain careers, universities, grants, mortgages, jobs and more. However, Trump tapped into backlash against such programs as he leaned heavily into culture wars during his 2024 campaign.
Now the EEOC’s website includes an information page titled, “What To Do If You Experience Discrimination Related to DEI at Work.” It shows ways the agency can seek recourse for those who feel discriminated against by efforts to offer opportunities to others.
Lucas’s bio on the EEOC’s website said she “prioritizes evenhanded enforcement of civil rights laws for all Americans, including by rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination.”
Many conservatives support her initiative.
“The EEOC is finally going to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as it was intended by Congress — to protect ALL Americans from employment discrimination no matter their race, color or ethnicity,” Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Straight Arrow News. “The act is race-neutral, and its objective is to stop all forms of discrimination.”
“It is about time that the EEOC recognized this and started enforcing the law as it was meant to be enforced,” said von Spakovsky, a former official in the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
In November, Lucas told The Associated Press that she is “committed to enforcing the law evenhandedly, advancing equal opportunity, and upholding merit-based, colorblind equality in America’s workplaces.”
Though Lucas sought white males’ claims of reverse racism, some say that this concept does not hold the same meaning for those who’ve been oppressed by various people, governments and institutions.
“There are plenty of people in America, especially in Black America, who believe that reverse racism is a contradiction in terms,” the journalist Kalefa Sanneh wrote for The New Yorker. “Racism, the argument goes, should not be thought of as a personal failing; it’s a social system, with a specific history. Discrimination against whites, however unfair, isn’t part of that system, and therefore is not analogous to discrimination against blacks.”
