Head of workplace rights agency urges white men to report discrimination

The head of the U.S. agency for enforcing workplace civil rights posted a social media call-out urging white men to come forward if they have experienced race or sex discrimination at work.

''Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws," U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas, a vocal critic of diversity, equity and inclusion, wrote in an X post Wednesday evening with a video of herself. 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.

Lucas' post, viewed millions of times, was shared about two hours after Vice President JD Vance posted an article he said ''describes the evil of DEI and its consequences," which also received millions of views. Lucas responded to Vance's post saying: ''Absolutely right @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; unlawful; immoral.''

She added that the EEOC ''won't rest until this discrimination is eliminated.''

A representative for Vance did not respond to a request for comment. Lucas said Thursday evening that ''the gaslighting surrounding what DEI initiatives have entailed in practice ends now. We can't attack and remedy a problem if we refuse to call it out for what it is — race or sex discrimination — or acknowledge who is harmed.''

She added that ''the EEOC's doors are open to all,'' and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 "protects everyone, including white men.''

Since being elevated to acting chair of the EEOC in January, Lucas has been shifting the agency's focus to prioritize ''rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination,'' aligning with President Donald Trump's own anti-DEI executive orders. Trump named Lucas as the agency's chair in November.

Those documents have been criticized by former agency commissioners as misleading for portraying DEI initiatives as legally fraught.

David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at the NYU School of Law, said Lucas's latest social media posts demonstrate a ''fundamental misunderstanding of what DEI is.''

''It's really much more about creating a culture in which you get the most out of everyone who you're bringing on board, where everyone experiences fairness and equal opportunity, including white men and members of other groups,'' Glasgow said.

The Meltzer Center tracks lawsuits that are likely to affect workplace DEI practices, including 57 cases of workplace discrimination. Although there are instances in which it 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 pointed out that Fortune 500 CEOs are overwhelmingly white men, and that relative to their share of the population, the demographic is overrepresented in corporate senior leadership, Congress, and beyond.

Jenny Yang, a former EEOC chair and now a partner at law firm Outten & Golden, said it is ''unusual'' and ''problematic'' for the head of the agency to single out a particular demographic group for civil rights enforcement.

''It suggests some sort of priority treatment,'' Yang said. ''That's not something that sounds to me like equal opportunity for all.''

On the other hand, the agency has done the opposite for transgender workers, whose discrimination complaints have been deprioritized or dropped completely, Yang said.

The EEOC has limited resources, and must accordingly prioritize which cases to pursue. But treating charges differently based on workers' identities goes against the mission of the agency, she said.

''It worries me that a message is being sent that the EEOC only cares about some workers and not others," Yang said.