Lucas celebrates Supreme Court ruling in Ames, warns employers about DEI

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Acting Chair Andrea Lucas issued a press release praising the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services and stating that it established the same protections for every individual regardless of their membership in a majority or minority group. She went on to say the Court made clear that discrimination based on a protected characteristic is unlawful discrimination, no matter the identity of who engaged in the discrimination or which workers were harmed or benefited.

Lucas went on to state:

Under my leadership the EEOC is committed to dismantling identity politics that have plagued our employment civil rights laws, by dispelling the notion that only the ‘right sort of’ [employee] is protected by Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964]. Following this week’s decision, the flawed “background circumstances” test no longer shields employers—including “our Nation’s largest and most prestigious”—in any jurisdiction nationwide from any race or sex discrimination that may arise from those employers’ [diversity, equity, and inclusion] DEI initiatives.

Employees moving to intervene in cases dropped by EEOC

As the EEOC moves to drop litigation based on gender identity and under the disparate impact theory, employees are seeking to intervene to protect their rights in litigation originally filed by the EEOC.