EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas has launched a probe of DEI practices at major law firms. On March 17, she sent letters to 20 firms and established an email address through which whistleblowers can report potentially unlawful activity.
The letters ask the firms to supply information about their DEI-related employment practices and express Lucas’s concern that they may entail disparate treatment in violation of Title VII.
The letters ask each firm to identify information that the Acting Chair should consider, including:
- Internships, fellowships, and scholarships
- Client staffing and data requests
- Internal policies and processes
- Hiring and compensation practices
- Performance evaluations
- Reductions in force, and
- Partnership decisions
The letters also ask firms to preserve relevant records. Responses and supporting documents are due to the EEOC by April 15.
The initiative comes days after President Trump signed an executive order stating that the Paul Weiss law firm “discriminates against its own employees on the basis of race and other categories prohibited by civil rights laws” and that “nearly every other large, influential, or industry leading law firm, makes decisions around ‘targets’ based on race and sex.”
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance, our affiliated nonprofit membership association, can read more here.