The primary federal regulator of workplace discrimination has become a powerful tool in President Trump’s assault on some of the nation’s biggest law firms and is upending the agency’s traditional role in enforcing civil rights laws and upsetting its staff.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which Congress established roughly 60 years ago to enforce anti-discrimination laws, has for decades focused on ensuring that workers are not discriminated against based on their race, religion, age or sexual orientation.
But the Trump administration has been deploying the agency in its effort to seek retribution and extract concessions from corporate law firms, many of which the White House views as having been hostile to Mr. Trump in the past.
Last month, the agency began questioning the hiring practices of 20 of the country’s biggest law firms, claiming that their efforts to recruit Black and Hispanic lawyers and create a more diverse work force may have potentially discriminated against white candidates. It is part of Mr. Trump’s broad crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, which he has branded “illegal and immoral discrimination,” arguing that the focus on these initiatives has caused jobs to go to unqualified people.
Critics of D.E.I. liken it to the kind of race-conscious affirmative action college admission programs the Supreme Court has found to be unconstitutional. Analysts with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, have said D.E.I. is unlawful discrimination and inconsistent with a merit-based system of hiring.
But the way the E.E.O.C. has begun looking into the hiring practices at the law firms has raised alarm among some current and former employees that the commission is being weaponized to ratchet up the pressure on law firms seen as unfriendly to the White House, according to eight people briefed on the matter, who requested anonymity because they feared retaliation.
Under federal law, an investigation can be opened either after the commission receives a complaint of discrimination from an individual or at the request of a commissioner. But in any case, the investigation is supposed to begin as a confidential process until a lawsuit is filed.
Karla Gilbride, who was general counsel for the commission under the Biden administration, said the E.E.O.C.’s public singling out of law firms for scrutiny was highly unusual.
“The way this was done so publicly from the start goes against the commission’s rules and how an investigation at the E.E.O.C. is normally done,” said Ms. Gilbride, who was fired as general counsel in the early days of the Trump administration. “Investigations are supposed to be confidential.” She added that it was a “breach in protocol.”
Ms. Gilbride, along with a group of former commissioners and general counsels, raised similar issues in a letter to Andrea Lucas, the acting chair of the E.E.O.C., which was reviewed by The New York Times. The group said the agency’s letters, which asked law firms to provide personal information about applicants, were concerning because “they imply a duty to respond without any basis in the laws that the E.E.O.C. enforces.”
Last week, three law students sued the E.E.O.C. in federal court, accusing the commission of overstepping its authority by requesting “sensitive personal information” they had provided to some of the law firms.
A spokesman for the E.E.O.C. declined to comment on its inquiry.
The inquiry is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration targeting the legal profession. Last month, the White House began issuing executive orders against several firms that drastically restricted their ability to represent clients before the federal government. Some law firms cut deals with the White House to avoid those restrictions by agreeing to do free legal work on causes Mr. Trump supported and committing to not rely on D.E.I. in hiring.
Questions surrounding the process did not stop four law firms targeted by the White House from also reaching settlements with the commission that included a vague promise not to use the term D.E.I. in their hiring and instead rely on a merit-based process. Law firms that have yet to settle with the E.E.O.C. were supposed to submit their responses on their hiring practices by the close of business last Tuesday.
The commission did not release copies of its settlements with Kirkland & Ellis; Latham & Watkins; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; and A&O Shearman. But it said all the firms, without admitting any wrongdoing, had agreed not to engage in D.E.I. hiring practices.
The firms either did not return requests for comment or declined to comment.
Some of the law firms, in internal emails reviewed by The Times, have cast their decision to reach a deal with the E.E.O.C. as a business one to avoid the expense and time of battling with the federal agency and the White House.
Within the ranks of the E.E.O.C., there is growing anger about the agency’s new direction and especially with Ms. Lucas, whom Mr. Trump installed as acting chair and has nominated for another five-year term. Ms. Lucas, originally named a commissioner during Mr. Trump’s first term, has said she will focus on rooting out D.E.I. and “defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights.”
Shortly after being named acting chair, Ms. Lucas moved to dismiss seven lawsuits the agency had brought accusing a range of companies of subjecting transgender and nonbinary workers to hostile work environments and then often firing them when they complained.
Since Ms. Lucas took over as acting chair, at least six employees, including lawyers and a judge, have left, according to seven current and former employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential talks. The staff departures reflect a growing fear that the commission is being politicized by Mr. Trump and straying from its mission of fighting discrimination in the workplace, these people said.
Roughly a week after the E.E.O.C. sent the letters to the law firms, a lawyer who is transgender submitted their resignation to Ms. Lucas, highlighting the moves by the agency to retreat from cases involving transgender rights.
“These actions have caused great harm and have forsaken the people we serve,” the lawyer wrote, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Times. In an interview, the lawyer, who requested anonymity because of fear of retaliation, said the inquiry into the law firms only confirmed that the agency had lost its way.
“It’s been heartbreaking and infuriating to see what is happening,” said Jocelyn Samuels, a Democratic commissioner whom Mr. Trump fired in January. Ms. Samuels was among the group that raised concerns about the law firm inquiry.
The letters to the law firms are consistent with the Trump administration’s broad crackdown on D.E.I. One of the more prominent links on the E.E.O.C.’s website reads: “What You Should Know About D.E.I.-Related Discrimination at Work.”
Two of the law firms went to the bargaining table with the E.E.O.C. with outside help.
Kirkland & Ellis and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett recently retained the services of Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm, to provide advice on employment practices, according to federal disclosure forms. Ballard helped arrange phone calls with the White House in which representatives of the law firms discussed the E.E.O.C. inquiry and other issues, a person briefed on the matter said.
Ballard, which has close ties to the Trump administration, previously employed Attorney General Pam Bondi as a lobbyist. Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, once worked for the firm. A lobbying firm representative listed on the disclosure forms did not return a request for comment.
According to lobbying reports filed last week, Kirkland & Ellis and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett each paid Ballard Partners $100,000 last month.
Kirkland, according to the most recent analysis by The American Lawyer, took in $8.8 billion in gross revenues last year, more than any other law firm.
Jessica Silver-Greenberg is a Times investigative reporter writing about big business with a focus on health care. She has been a reporter for more than a decade.
Matthew Goldstein is a Times reporter who covers Wall Street and white-collar crime and housing issues.
Kenneth P. Vogel is based in Washington and investigates the intersection of money, politics and influence.
The post Angst Builds Inside Federal Agency Over Trump’s Moves Against Law Firms appeared first on New York Times.
