EEOC Report on Fulfilling President Trump's EEO Priorities

By Richard Lehr - Lehr Middlebrooks Vreeland & Thompson, P.C.

May 18, 2026

On May 7, 2026, EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas reported on the EEOC’s progress to address the President’s EEO priorities:  protecting religious freedom and combatting antisemitism, attacking race and sex discrimination allegedly arising from DEI programs, and combatting anti-American worker preferences for foreign workers. Specifically:

1.  “Since January 2025, the EEOC has filed 16 religious discrimination lawsuits and recovered over $63 million on behalf of religious workers via public and private pre-litigation voluntary resolutions, as well as litigation settlements.” For FY 2025 (year ending September 30, 2025), the agency recovered over $48 million to resolve religious discrimination claims, an increase from $19.55 million recovered by the Agency during FY 2024.

2.  Noteworthy agency action regarding race and sex discrimination claims alleged to arise from DEI programs include a recent lawsuit against The New York Times for DEI-related race and sex discrimination against a White male who was denied a promotion; a subpoena enforcement action against Nike, alleging systemic race discrimination against a class of White employees caused by Nike’s DEI initiatives; and a letter in February 2026 from EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas to Fortune 500 executives, board chairs, and general counsel about the EEOC’s position that many DEI initiatives violated Title VII.

3.  Regarding discrimination against American workers, the EEOC sued United Pride Dairy, which allegedly preferred foreign workers and whose managers referred to Americans as “lazy”, and settled for $150,000 a lawsuit against Seward and Son on behalf of Black workers who claimed discrimination in favor of foreign workers.

www.lehrmiddlebrooks.com