The acting Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) chair threatened US law firms over their DEI practices earlier this week, prompting former commissioners to publicly disagree with the directive.
The latest. Andrea Lucas issued a letter to 20 law firms on Mar. 17, claiming that the DEI messaging on their websites may violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The letter did not explicitly state which practices Lucas deems unlawful. It also requested information about the firms’ DEI initiatives. Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and Sidley Austin are among the targeted firms that have already removed DEI-specific language from their websites since President Trump took office.
The EEOC chair also claimed that employers are not allowed to have “voluntary employee groups” based on protected characteristics, and encouraged would-be whistleblowers to report law firms for their DEI practices.
Seven former EEOC commissioners rebuked Lucas’ message, issuing a letter, expressing their “grave concerns” over the warnings, which, they said, violate the terms of the commission. They also said the EEOC does not have the “authority to require information from employers under Title VII simply by the request of a Commissioner,” and is not supposed to intimidate employers or publicize initial stages of an investigation.
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The former commissioners also asserted that while the law firms could be investigated if the EEOC has proof that they are engaging in discrimination, they are not required to respond to Lucas.
“No single member of the Commission, including the Chair, has the authority to unilaterally change the EEOC’s longstanding position on employers’ diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts,” the letter said.
Zoom out. Lucas’ move is the latest in a series of threats from the Trump administration against law firms and DEI initiatives. Trump has issued multiple executive orders targeting DEI that are currently being litigated in the courts, and three orders targeting law firms including Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, and Covington & Burling.
Despite this, many of the biggest law firms appear to be sticking with their DEI programming and messaging, HR Brew previously reported.
Roughly three-quarters (77%) of lawyers in the US are white. David Lopez, a professor at Rutgers Law School and former general counsel at the EEOC, told the New York Times that DEI programs were built to level the playing field in workplaces, including those in the legal industry. “The whole notion that DEI, as it’s being vilified, is inherently discriminatory is absolutely, positively false.”