EEOC chair provides guidance to employers

On May 7, 2026, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Andrea Lucas spoke to a group of employers at an employer association meeting. Her message was very clear—she is focused on going back to neutral on enforcement. The EEOC’s priorities are the stated priorities of the Trump administration—race and sex discrimination, defending women, anti-American bias, and religious liberty.

Project Firewall: EEOC, DOJ, DOL 

In response to questions about the EEOC’s role in Project Firewall, Lucas noted the EEOC, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Labor (DOL) are investigating the abuse of “guest worker” visas and that the same set of facts can trigger investigations by all three agencies. With the EEOC, the investigation would be whether American workers are being discriminated against by employers that are hiring individuals on H-1B or other nonimmigrant visas. 

White males are protected under Title VII 

As has been discussed in other FELI articles, Lucas has done unusual outreach to white males, including a PSA on X specially asking white males to file discrimination charges with the agency. She said she felt white males have always been the scapegoat in the workforce because the belief is that there’s less risk to punishing them. She then stated that of the 1,400 lawsuits filed by the EEOC in the past 10 years, not one had been filed on behalf of a white male. She said that the lawsuit filed against the New York Times on May 5 was the first filed on behalf of white male in 10 years.

‘Illegal’ DEI