When the EEOC’s stance on ‘wokeness’ meets state legal protections

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) apparent pursuit to push back against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and what it calls “gender ideology” in the workplace has sown confusion for businesses, particularly in the Northeast. Some of its policy signals are vague and imprecise, while others run counter to state laws and a key U.S. Supreme Court case regarding LGBTQ+ protections. Businesses are left walking a tightrope between following the EEOC’s lead and complying with state laws.

What happened?

The confusion started in January when the EEOC announced plans to implement Executive Order (EO) 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” Among other moves, the EEOC announced it would stop allowing its employees to use their preferred pronouns in email systems, end the use of nonbinary gender identifiers like “X” or “Mx” on its complaint intake forms, revise the required workplace poster, and remove resources related to “gender ideology” from its internal and external websites. Within hours of the January press release, the EEOC deactivated dozens of webpages discussing LGBTQ+ protections.