EEOC Urges White Males to Report Discrimination—And Promptly
Fred Lucas /
White males who have faced discrimination should file a federal complaint, the head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says.
In a video posted on social media Thursday, EEOC Acting Chairwoman Andrea Lucas advised potential victims of discrimination to file complaints in a timely manner.
“Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex?” Lucas said. “You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws.”
The Trump administration has opposed diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the government, and terminated DEI federal grants.
A person has a deadline of 180 days from the alleged discrimination to make a complaint, according to the EEOC.
“Contact the EOC as soon as possible. Time limits are typically strict for filing a claim,” Lucas continued. “The EOC is the federal agency charged with enforcing federal antidiscrimination law against businesses and other private sector employers.”
“The EOC is committed to identifying, attacking, and eliminating all forms of race and sex discrimination, including against white male applicants, and employees,” Lucas clarified.
The EEOC website says the 180-day deadline can be extended up to 300 days if a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis, and would have to first hear the case.
Although the EEOC has frequently taken up discrimination cases on behalf of minority groups, earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that someone who belongs to a “majority group” can sue for discrimination, in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services. That case involved a straight woman who alleged she was passed over for employment due to her sexual identity, but the “majority group” principle would likely apply for a white male.
During his first term, President Donald Trump appointed Lucas—a former labor and litigation lawyer at the firm of Gibson Dunn—to the EEOC, and the Senate confirmed her in 2020.
After Trump returned for a second term in January, he designated her as the acting chair of commission. [Lucas is not related to The Daily Signal reporter who wrote this news story.]
Lucas has not been confirmed by the Senate as chair. But, as previously noted in The Daily Signal, as acting chair she forced major law firms to stop using DEI to discriminate based on race.
She further ordered the EEOC to be evenhanded in its enforcement priorities. Lucas made it easier for employees to report DEI discrimination and made it a priority to protect Americans from religious discrimination.
This is move is a Trump administration “stunt,” said Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way, a liberal activist group.
“Stunts like this demonstrate the lengths Trump is willing to go to dismantle institutions meant to do good and make them tools that once again unbalance the scales in favor of privilege and white supremacy,” Batchelor told The Grio. “A call for ‘color-blind, merit-based’ employment falls flat from a White House that is overwhelmingly white, wealthy, and unqualified to govern.”