The head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is encouraging white men to file a claim with the federal agency if they believe they have been discriminated against at work because of their race or sex.
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas posted a straight-to-camera video on social media on Wednesday, asking, “Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws. Contact the EEOC as soon as possible. Time limits are typically strict for filing a claim.”
Lucas’ video was reposted by Vice President JD Vance, who in a separate post called DEI programs “discrimination primarily against white men.” It has been viewed at least 5 million times on X since she first posted it.
President Donald Trump railed against diversity, equity and inclusion during his presidential campaign and signed executive orders aimed at cracking down on it beginning on his first day in office. He also appointed Lucas as acting chair of the EEOC. She officially became chair last month.
The EEOC’s website includes a page titled “What To Do If You Experience Discrimination Related to DEI at Work,” reflecting the agency’s focus on pushing back against the efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
The EEOC was created in 1965 to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Its five-member bipartisan commission investigates claims of workplace discrimination and a claim must be made with the EEOC before an employee can sue an employer in federal court.
Former EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum, who was appointed by President Barack Obama and served for almost 10 years, said she was “seriously taken aback” by Lucas’ video, saying it went beyond the role of the agency.
“EEOC doesn’t go out looking for discrimination,” she said to NBC News. “It’s there to be responsive to charges that come in.”
Feldblum said the EEOC sometimes issues information about its interpretation of the law. For example, when the agency decided that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was a form of sex discrimination, it put out updated information.
The agency did not, however, issue a message encouraging those who had been discriminated against due to their sexual orientation to file complaints.
“We would put out information,” she said. “We would not solicit charges.”
It is the latest move in what Feldblum called a pattern of “very serious problematic actions” the agency has taken since President Trump took office for a second time.
Within days of starting his second term, the president fired EEOC commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, both Democrats, well before their terms were set to end. Samuels filed a lawsuit against the administration, which has been paused pending the Supreme Court’s decision on Trump’s firing of an employee of another independent agency.
Feldblum was also asked to resign from a different commission — Ability One, a federal agency that creates jobs for people with disabilities, to which she was appointed by President Joe Biden — just one day into the second Trump administration. She has since co-founded a group called EEO Leaders, which consists of lawyers and former EEOC commissioners, including Burrows and Samuels, who aim to counter what they call the “misleading legal information” coming out of the current EEOC.
Lucas’ EEOC bio says she wants to root out “unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination,” “anti-American national origin discrimination,” and defend the “biological and binary reality of sex.”
