The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Committee (EEOC) wrote on Monday to 20 law firms requesting information on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, calling for “eliminating discrimination.”
“EEOC is I've prepared EEOC Chairman Andrea Lucas said in writing.
The EEOC letter highlights agency concerns that employment practices of some companies (the employment practices of companies labelled or framed as DEIs) could illegally discriminate against Americans based on race, gender, or other protected practices.
EEOC continued:
Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals due to race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. Under Title VII, an employer's initiative, policy, program, or practice may be illegal if the employer has adopted employment measures that are motivated by race, gender, or another protected characteristic.
Title VII prohibits employers from restricting, segregating or classifying employees based on race, gender, or other protected characteristics. There are no exceptions to “diversity” to these prohibitions. It is the EEOC's responsibility to implement the Title VII provisions with regard to businesses and other private sector employers.
Law firms that received letters about potentially discriminatory employment practices include:
- A&O Shearman
- Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
- Cooley LLP
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
- Goodwin Procter LLP
- Hogan Lovells LLP
- Kirkland & Ellis LLP
- Latham & Watkins LLP
- McDermottwill and Emery
- Milbank LLP
- Morgan, Lewis & Bocchius LLP
- Morrison & Foerster LLP
- Perkins Coie
- Reed Smith
- Rope & Grey LLP
- Sidley Austin LLP
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
- White & Case LLP
- Wilmer Hale
This is the latest example of the Trump administration, struggling businesses over discriminatory DEI practices.
In late February, Chairman Brendan Carr's FCC opened probe Verizon's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices. He had previously launched a study on Comcast's DEI practices.
Carr describes this type of DEI practice as “a mysterious form of discrimination” that could violate “FCC regulations and civil rights laws.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him with x @seanmoran3.
