Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LABOR NEWS—Brandeis Center files EEOC charge accusing National Education Association of anti-Semitism, (May 5, 2026)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

According to the center, “NEA’s written policies require the use of unlawful racial and ethnic classifications and preferences to exclude members,” and because the NEA classifies them as “white” they are “excluded from governance positions” among other things.

Yesterday, the Louis D. Brandeis Center Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism, Inc., announced that it has filed a charge with the EEOC against the National Education Association (NEA), alleging that the union had subjected Jewish and Israeli members to discrimination in violation of Title VII and the D.C. Human Rights Act based on their ancestry, national origin, and religion.

Classified as “white” and excluded. According to the complaint filed by the center, the NEA has “materially limited the ability of Jewish members to fully participate in the NEA and has denied them opportunities for leadership, mentorship, governance, and training.” It alleges that the union’s “written policies require the use of unlawful racial and ethnic classifications and preferences” and that “as many Jewish members do not fit into one of the NEA’s preferred minority categories—the NEA classifies them as “white”—they are excluded from governance positions and deprived of other NEA benefits.”

The center also alleges that the union’s policies require state and local affiliates to allocate benefits to their members based on the same racial and ethnic classifications. They contend that the union’s “use of race and ethnicity in decision-making” contributes to the hostile environment Jewish members experience. These policies, the center contends, both allow and encourage discrimination against Jewish NEA members. They also “erase Jewish members’ identity and shared ancestry, leading to Jewish NEA members being harassed and intimidated by other members in the presence of NEA leadership without intervention.”

2025 union assembly. Among other things, the charge points to incidents that occurred at the NEA’s 2025 Representative Assembly (RA), including allegations that Jewish delegates were physically surrounded and shouted at by anti-Israel advocates and that when a Jewish delegate at the RA referenced the murder of an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor in an anti-Semitic attack in Colorado, her comment was met with clapping and laughter by other delegates. They allege that although some of this was done in front of leadership and although complaints were made, nothing was done.

The charge notes that the NEA removed metal detectors and reduced security at the event regardless of reports by Jewish members of intimidation and harassment and a realistic fear of violence. Other recent actions by NEA that the center contends contribute to the hostile environment against Jewish members are that the NEA’s handbook removed Jews as the primary victims of the Holocaust and it distributed a map to all members that erased the State of Israel, instead labeling the entire territory as “Palestine.”

The center contends that, although it has been repeatedly notified of these issues, the NEA has failed to take action to address them.

The union has not issued a press release at this time, but has told another news outlet that it does not tolerate antisemitism in any form and that it “remains committed to ensuring that all members and students, including Jewish members and students, can work and learn in a safe and welcoming environment.”

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