Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Agency touts 120-day accomplishments, including targeting DEI and defining sex as binary, (May 28, 2025)

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

“I look forward to the EEOC continuing our aggressive pursuit of justice, individual rights, and colorblind equality under the law.”

The Trump Administration’s EEOC is touting its accomplishments during the first 120 days of the a ...

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

“I look forward to the EEOC continuing our aggressive pursuit of justice, individual rights, and colorblind equality under the law.”

The Trump Administration’s EEOC is touting its accomplishments during the first 120 days of the administration, underscoring its work in countering discrimination and harassment at work, including its targeting of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-related race and sex discrimination; antisemitism, anti-Christian bias, other forms of religious bias; and national origin. “[U]nder the leadership of Acting Chair Andrea Lucas [the EEOC] has undertaken exhaustive efforts to restore evenhanded enforcement of employment civil rights laws on behalf of all Americans,” the federal agency wrote in a press release.

Under Lucas’ leadership, the EEOC has taken numerous notable actions, consistent with President Trump’s Executive Orders and priorities.

Race discrimination. The agency has targeted all forms of race discrimination, including that which it sees as arising from DEI:

Sent letters to 20 “elite” law firms requesting DEI-related information about employment practices, securing commitments to merit-based employment practices from Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, and A&O Shearman Sterling, LLC, in conjunction with concurrent $700 million settlements by those firms with President Trump. Notably, though, some law firms, seeing these actions as unconstitutional, have turned to the courts.
The EEOC unveiled comprehensive resource materials to help workers and employers understand, identify, and report DEI-related race and sex discrimination.
Reminded employers of their obligations not to use demographic data collected for annual EEO-1 reporting to the EEOC to discriminate against employees based on race or other protected characteristics.
Filed a subpoena enforcement action in federal court against Mauser Packaging Solutions to investigate allegations that it may have violated Title VII when it engaged in illegal hiring practices harming multiple groups of applicants (white, black, Hispanic, and female applicants). The EEOC pointed to inappropriate requests to staffing, placement, or recruiting companies to provide it with workers or candidates for various Mauser facilities who had demographic characteristics that matched the demographics of the population of employees who already worked at those facilities, effectively segregating various facilities by race, national origin, or sex.
Recovered more than $215,000 in a settlement against construction parts and auto mechanic companies Trebor USA, Colt Truck Care, and Wholesale Building Products on behalf of black and Hispanic workers who suffered race and national origin harassment, as well as retaliation, in violation of Title VII.
Reached a $175,000 settlement against vehicle auctioneer Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc., on behalf of black workers who allegedly suffered racial harassment, including repeated racial slurs by coworkers, to the point where an employee was eventually forced to quit over the harassment, in violation of Title VII.

Religious freedom:

Lucas promised to hold American universities accountable for on-campus antisemitism and religious bias against employees, building on the Commission’s prior resolution condemning antisemitism and resource materials for addressing antisemitism at work.

Filed a lawsuit against timeshare companies under the Marriott corporate umbrella, alleging that Marriott violated Title VII when it failed to accommodate a sales executive’s request to observe the Sabbath in accordance with her faith, forcing her to choose between showing up for work or adhering to her religious practice and leading her to resign.
Lucas participated in the first meeting of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias in the federal government. The Task Force was established under Executive Order 14202, “to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government.”
Settled through conciliation a COVID-19 vaccine religious accommodation charge against Infinity Rehab for an unspecified amount of monetary, as well as injunctive relief. After investigation and referral by the EEOC, the Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a COVID-19 vaccine mandate lawsuit arising out of a teacher’s charge. Under the consent decree resolving the suit, Advanced Science and Technology Education Charter Schools will pay the teacher $95,000 in monetary damages, revise its anti-religious discrimination policy, and provide mandatory training on the policy to personnel.
Following government and employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the EEOC received more than 10,000 religious accommodation charges related to this issue as well as more than 6,000 disability accommodation charges related to this issue. To date, the EEOC has recovered over $54 million for workers impacted by these mandates.

National origin discrimination involving preferences for foreign workers:

Lucas announced she would be prioritizing enforcement against unlawful national original discrimination against American workers in favor of foreign workers, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, and DOJ. “The law is clear: the prohibition on national origin discrimination applies to any national origin group, including discrimination against American workers in favor of foreign workers,” she said.
Settled a foreign-preference national origin discrimination lawsuit for $1.4 million against LeoPalace, a major hotel and resort in Guam, on behalf of non-Japanese employees, including multiple former employees of American national origin.
Since 2019, the EEOC has recovered almost $7 million in “foreign preference” national origin discrimination cases.

Sex-based rights at work:

Removed what it called “gender ideology” from within the EEOC and restored its adherence to the “binary and biological reality of sex” in order to protect women’s rights in the workplace. Notably, the “binary and biological reality of sex” is not a universally held view. “Plentiful data and analyses support the assertions that sex is very complex in humans and that binary and simplistic explanations for human sex biology are either wholly incorrect or substantially incomplete,” wrote Agustin Fuentes, in Scientific American. Fuentes is a professor of anthropology at Princeton University.
Updated its website to reflect a federal court’s striking down portions of the EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, which had “effectively eliminated single-sex spaces at work and infringed on employees’ religious and free speech rights,” positions that Lucas voted against in her previous role as Commissioner and vowed to dismantle as Chair.
Filed lawsuits protecting classes of young female workers (including multiple minors) from sexual harassment, including sexual harassment lawsuits against Paia Inn and Taco Bell Franchisees. Since January 2025, the EEOC has recovered more than $1.2 million remedying (collectively from Walmart, St. Cloud Area Family YMCA, HHS Environmental, and SkyWest Airlines) sexual harassment, including sexual harassment against minors.
The EEOC continued to protect the rights of pregnant women, recovering more than $114,000 of compensation (collectively from White Pine Senior Living and Kurt Bluemel, Inc.) for women who were discriminated against based on their pregnancies, since January. The agency also filed a lawsuit against a Philadelphia nonprofit Support Center for Child Advocates for failing to accommodate an employee with a high-risk pregnancy.

Veterans with disabilities:

Won a $400,000-plus jury verdict on behalf of a Florida veteran who was denied a reasonable accommodation for her PTSD by The Princess Martha, a senior living facility.
Filed a disability accommodation lawsuit against Criswell Chevrolet on behalf of an Iraqi War veteran injured in combat who requested to have a service dog at work.

EEO complaint process:

Lucas is reforming the agency’s federal sector program, including through a series of “course-correcting” memoranda to make the EEOC more accountable.
The first memorandum, “Ending Unauthorized Monetary Sanctions Against Federal Agencies,” “corrects the EEOC’s previous rejection of binding authority by the DOJ; reaffirms that DOJ’s OLC opinions constitute controlling legal advice to Executive Branch officials; and ends the EEOC’s practice of imposing monetary sanctions against federal agency employers during the federal sector EEO complaint process.” Notably, the EEOC is an “independent federal agency.”
The second memorandum, “Restoring and Protecting the Presumption of Innocence in the EEO Complaint Process,” reaffirms the commonsense proposition that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and reminds all federal agency employers that they should give federal sector EEO defendants a full and fair chance to clear their names.

The EEOC pointed out that the majority of its law enforcement work is confidential and remains so prior to a public settlement or filing of a legal action. “Rest assured, however—across the nation, from our headquarters in Washington, D.C. and throughout our field offices serving every part of the nation, dedicated members of the EEOC staff are securing valuable wins for the American worker,” the agency said

“Under the Trump Administration, we will not turn a blind eye to employer practices that deny American workers their livelihoods, dignity, and rights,” Lucas said. “I look forward to the EEOC continuing our aggressive pursuit of justice, individual rights, and colorblind equality under the law.”

Companies: Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP; A&O Shearman Sterling, LLC; Trebor USA; Colt Truck Care; Wholesale Building Products; Mauser Packaging Solutions; Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc.; Marriott; Infinity Rehab; Advanced Science and Technology Education Charter Schools; LeoPalace; Paia Inn; Taco Bell; Walmart; St. Cloud Area Family YMCA; HHS Environmental; SkyWest Airlines; White Pine Senior Living; Kurt Bluemel, Inc.; Support Center for Child Advocates; The Princess Martha; Criswell Chevrolet

News: AgencyNews Discrimination Discharge DisabilityDiscrimination NationalOrigin RaceDiscrimination ReligiousDiscrimination SexDiscrimination SexualHarassment PregnancyDiscrimination Retaliation RemediesDamages LitigationNewsTrends

Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Agency touts 120-day accomplishments, including targeting DEI and defining sex as binary, (May 28, 2025)

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

“I look forward to the EEOC continuing our aggressive pursuit of justice, individual rights, and colorblind equality under the law.”

The Trump Administration’s EEOC is touting its accomplishments during the first 120 days of the a ...

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

“I look forward to the EEOC continuing our aggressive pursuit of justice, individual rights, and colorblind equality under the law.”

Under Lucas’ leadership, the EEOC has taken numerous notable actions, consistent with President Trump’s Executive Orders and priorities.

Race discrimination. The agency has targeted all forms of race discrimination, including that which it sees as arising from DEI:

Sent letters to 20 “elite” law firms requesting DEI-related information about employment practices, securing commitments to merit-based employment practices from Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, and A&O Shearman Sterling, LLC, in conjunction with concurrent $700 million settlements by those firms with President Trump. Notably, though, some law firms, seeing these actions as unconstitutional, have turned to the courts.
The EEOC unveiled comprehensive resource materials to help workers and employers understand, identify, and report DEI-related race and sex discrimination.
Reminded employers of their obligations not to use demographic data collected for annual EEO-1 reporting to the EEOC to discriminate against employees based on race or other protected characteristics.
Filed a subpoena enforcement action in federal court against Mauser Packaging Solutions to investigate allegations that it may have violated Title VII when it engaged in illegal hiring practices harming multiple groups of applicants (white, black, Hispanic, and female applicants). The EEOC pointed to inappropriate requests to staffing, placement, or recruiting companies to provide it with workers or candidates for various Mauser facilities who had demographic characteristics that matched the demographics of the population of employees who already worked at those facilities, effectively segregating various facilities by race, national origin, or sex.
Recovered more than $215,000 in a settlement against construction parts and auto mechanic companies Trebor USA, Colt Truck Care, and Wholesale Building Products on behalf of black and Hispanic workers who suffered race and national origin harassment, as well as retaliation, in violation of Title VII.
Reached a $175,000 settlement against vehicle auctioneer Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc., on behalf of black workers who allegedly suffered racial harassment, including repeated racial slurs by coworkers, to the point where an employee was eventually forced to quit over the harassment, in violation of Title VII.

Religious freedom:

Lucas promised to hold American universities accountable for on-campus antisemitism and religious bias against employees, building on the Commission’s prior resolution condemning antisemitism and resource materials for addressing antisemitism at work.

Filed a lawsuit against timeshare companies under the Marriott corporate umbrella, alleging that Marriott violated Title VII when it failed to accommodate a sales executive’s request to observe the Sabbath in accordance with her faith, forcing her to choose between showing up for work or adhering to her religious practice and leading her to resign.
Lucas participated in the first meeting of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias in the federal government. The Task Force was established under Executive Order 14202, “to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government.”
Settled through conciliation a COVID-19 vaccine religious accommodation charge against Infinity Rehab for an unspecified amount of monetary, as well as injunctive relief. After investigation and referral by the EEOC, the Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a COVID-19 vaccine mandate lawsuit arising out of a teacher’s charge. Under the consent decree resolving the suit, Advanced Science and Technology Education Charter Schools will pay the teacher $95,000 in monetary damages, revise its anti-religious discrimination policy, and provide mandatory training on the policy to personnel.
Following government and employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the EEOC received more than 10,000 religious accommodation charges related to this issue as well as more than 6,000 disability accommodation charges related to this issue. To date, the EEOC has recovered over $54 million for workers impacted by these mandates.

National origin discrimination involving preferences for foreign workers:

Lucas announced she would be prioritizing enforcement against unlawful national original discrimination against American workers in favor of foreign workers, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, and DOJ. “The law is clear: the prohibition on national origin discrimination applies to any national origin group, including discrimination against American workers in favor of foreign workers,” she said.
Settled a foreign-preference national origin discrimination lawsuit for $1.4 million against LeoPalace, a major hotel and resort in Guam, on behalf of non-Japanese employees, including multiple former employees of American national origin.
Since 2019, the EEOC has recovered almost $7 million in “foreign preference” national origin discrimination cases.

Sex-based rights at work:

Removed what it called “gender ideology” from within the EEOC and restored its adherence to the “binary and biological reality of sex” in order to protect women’s rights in the workplace. Notably, the “binary and biological reality of sex” is not a universally held view. “Plentiful data and analyses support the assertions that sex is very complex in humans and that binary and simplistic explanations for human sex biology are either wholly incorrect or substantially incomplete,” wrote Agustin Fuentes, in Scientific American. Fuentes is a professor of anthropology at Princeton University.
Updated its website to reflect a federal court’s striking down portions of the EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, which had “effectively eliminated single-sex spaces at work and infringed on employees’ religious and free speech rights,” positions that Lucas voted against in her previous role as Commissioner and vowed to dismantle as Chair.
Filed lawsuits protecting classes of young female workers (including multiple minors) from sexual harassment, including sexual harassment lawsuits against Paia Inn and Taco Bell Franchisees. Since January 2025, the EEOC has recovered more than $1.2 million remedying (collectively from Walmart, St. Cloud Area Family YMCA, HHS Environmental, and SkyWest Airlines) sexual harassment, including sexual harassment against minors.
The EEOC continued to protect the rights of pregnant women, recovering more than $114,000 of compensation (collectively from White Pine Senior Living and Kurt Bluemel, Inc.) for women who were discriminated against based on their pregnancies, since January. The agency also filed a lawsuit against a Philadelphia nonprofit Support Center for Child Advocates for failing to accommodate an employee with a high-risk pregnancy.

Veterans with disabilities:

Won a $400,000-plus jury verdict on behalf of a Florida veteran who was denied a reasonable accommodation for her PTSD by The Princess Martha, a senior living facility.
Filed a disability accommodation lawsuit against Criswell Chevrolet on behalf of an Iraqi War veteran injured in combat who requested to have a service dog at work.

EEO complaint process:

Lucas is reforming the agency’s federal sector program, including through a series of “course-correcting” memoranda to make the EEOC more accountable.
The first memorandum, “Ending Unauthorized Monetary Sanctions Against Federal Agencies,” “corrects the EEOC’s previous rejection of binding authority by the DOJ; reaffirms that DOJ’s OLC opinions constitute controlling legal advice to Executive Branch officials; and ends the EEOC’s practice of imposing monetary sanctions against federal agency employers during the federal sector EEO complaint process.” Notably, the EEOC is an “independent federal agency.”
The second memorandum, “Restoring and Protecting the Presumption of Innocence in the EEO Complaint Process,” reaffirms the commonsense proposition that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and reminds all federal agency employers that they should give federal sector EEO defendants a full and fair chance to clear their names.