Trump’s labor rights chief urges white men to speak out against discrimination
The head of the US agency to enforce civil rights in the workplace posted a call on social media urging white men to report if they have experienced racial or sexual discrimination at work.
“Are you a white man who has experienced discrimination at work because of your race or sex? You may be entitled to recover money under federal civil rights laws,” U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chairwoman Andrea Lucas, an outspoken critic of diversity, equity and inclusion, wrote in an X post Wednesday night with a video of herself. The post urged eligible workers to contact the agency “as soon as possible” and directed 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 published an article he said “outlines the evil of DEI and its consequences,” which also received millions of views. Lucas responded to Vance’s post by saying: “Absolutely true @JDVance. And precisely because this widespread, systemic, illegal discrimination primarily harmed white men, elites didn’t just turn a blind eye; they celebrated it. Absolutely unacceptable; illegal; immoral.”
He added that the EEOC “will not rest until this discrimination is eliminated.”
A representative for Vance did not respond to a request for comment. Lucas said Thursday night that “the glow surrounding what DEI initiatives have entailed in practice ends now. We cannot attack and remedy a problem if we refuse to call it out for what it is (racial or sexual discrimination) or acknowledge who is harmed.”
He added that “the doors of the EEOC are open to all” and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “protects everyone, including white men.”
Are you a white man who has experienced discrimination at work because of your race or sex?
You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws. Contact @USEEOC as soon as possible.
The EEOC is committed to identifying, attacking and eliminating ALL races… pic.twitter.com/BYjbld5zdv
– EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas (@andrealucasEEOC) December 17, 2025
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Are you a white man who has experienced discrimination at work because of your race or sex?
You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws. Contact @USEEOC as soon as possible.The EEOC is committed to identifying, attacking and eliminating ALL races… pic.twitter.com/BYjbld5zdv
– EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas (@andrealucasEEOC) December 17, 2025
Since being promoted to acting chair of the EEOC in January, Lucas has been shifting the agency’s focus to prioritize “eliminating unlawful racial and sexual discrimination motivated by DEI,” aligning with President Donald Trump’s own anti-DEI executive orders. Trump named Lucas president of the agency in November.
Earlier this year, the EEOC along with the Department of Justice issued two “technical assistance” documents that attempted to clarify what might constitute “DEI-related workplace discrimination” and provide guidance on how workers can file complaints about such concerns. The documents took broad aim at practices such as training, employee resource groups, and scholarship programs, warning that such programs (depending on how they are constructed) could conflict with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race and gender.
David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University School of Law, said Lucas’s latest social media posts demonstrate a “fundamental misunderstanding of what DEI is.”
“In reality, it’s much more about creating a culture where everyone who joins is getting the most out of it, where everyone experiences fairness and equal opportunity, including white men and members of other groups,” Glasgow said.
Tom Williams via Getty Images
The Meltzer Center tracks lawsuits likely to affect workplace DEI practices, including 57 workplace discrimination cases. Although there are cases where this 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 noted 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.
“If DEI has been this driver of discrimination against white men, I have to say it hasn’t really been doing a good job of doing that,” Glasgow said.
Jenny Yang, former EEOC chairwoman and now a partner at the law firm Outten & Golden, said it is “unusual” and “problematic” for the agency’s director to single out a particular demographic to enforce civil rights.
“This suggests some kind of priority treatment,” Yang said. “That’s not something that I think is equal opportunity for everyone.”
On the other hand, the agency has done the opposite with transgender workers, whose discrimination complaints have been deprioritized or eliminated entirely, Yang said.
The EEOC has limited resources and must therefore prioritize which cases to pursue. But treating charges differently based on workers’ identities goes against the agency’s mission, he said.
“I’m concerned that the message is being sent that the EEOC only cares about some workers and not others,” Yang said.
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