Trump’s Head of Workplace Rights Urges White Men Who ‘Experienced Discrimination’ to Come Forward — and Says They Could ‘Recover Money’

The head of the federal agency tasked with enforcing workplace civil rights is encouraging white men to come forward if they believe they have faced discrimination on the job because of their race or sex.

“Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex?” Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Andrea Lucas wrote on X on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 17. “You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws.”

In the same post, Lucas urged anyone who thinks they may have been discriminated against to contact the agency “as soon as possible.”

“The EEOC is committed to identifying, attacking, and eliminating ALL race and sex discrimination — including against white male employees and applicants,” the post continued. It also referenced the agency’s fact sheet on “DEI-related discrimination” for additional information.

Civil rights advocates have long argued that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies are important for addressing longstanding inequities. Lucas, however, has been a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump’s push to roll back such initiatives.

Her post circulated a couple of hours after Vice President JD Vance shared an article on X titled “The Lost Generation,” saying it “describes the evil of DEI and its consequences.”

“This is why the Trump administration has so dedicated itself to eradicating racist discrimination,” Vance, 41, wrote.

“We’ve eliminated funding for DEI, required government grantees to certify that they’re not engaged in DEI, fired a number of DEI employees, and asked the great @HarmeetKDhillon to aggressively prosecute all forms of racial discrimination,” he added.

Vance was referring to Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

Lucas responded to Vance’s comments on X, writing that he was “absolutely right.”

“And precisely because this widespread, systemic, unlawful discrimination primarily harmed white men, elites didn’t just turn a blind eye; they celebrated it,” she wrote. “Absolutely unacceptable; unlawful; immoral.” She added that the EEOC “won’t rest until this discrimination is eliminated.”

The EEOC was created under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is responsible for enforcing federal workplace anti-discrimination laws. Under those laws, it is illegal to discriminate against employees or job applicants based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information, according to the agency’s website.

Trump, 79, named Lucas as chair of the agency in early November. She was first nominated to the EEOC in 2020 during Trump’s first term and was confirmed in July by a party-line vote of 52 to 45 for a second five-year term, despite opposition from Democratic lawmakers and several civil rights groups.

Since Trump began his second term, the agency has opened investigations involving Ivy League universities, including Harvard and Columbia. Columbia agreed to pay $21 million to settle one such investigation. Under Lucas’ leadership, the agency has also moved to roll back certain protections for transgender workers.