Regular readers of Parsons’ Employment Law Update know that current Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Andrea Lucas has been laser-focused on combatting alleged discrimination against white workers. Late last year, Lucas posted a widely viewed video on social media urging white men to come forward with discrimination charges, and told Bloomberg Law that her aim is to show employers “that there are consequences for discrimination against anybody and to not automatically assume that they can just make the White guy the scapegoat.” She told Reuters that she is making over “the agency to reflect a conservative view of civil rights.”
The EEOC continues to advance Lucas’ priorities. This week, it announced the resolution of 13 discrimination charges against the St. Louis Sheriff’s Office. In the case, the EEOC “found reasonable cause to believe that former Sheriff Alfred Montgomery,” who was removed by a court from office in December 2025 after allegations of corruption, “systematically terminated a group of nearly a dozen white employees and two black employees without any assessment of job performance in January 2025.” Montgomery allegedly “targeted white employees for termination and a black employee who spoke out against unlawful discrimination.” Montgomery called the white employees a “racist gang” and said he “could not wait to get rid of these white officers,” according to the EEOC. Compounding the error, Montgomery allegedly responded to EEOC charges filed by the terminated white employees by firing a black employee, saying he “needed to fire a black guy” to combat the discrimination charges—a novel and unhelpful strategy for defending a discrimination claim.
The EEOC and the St. Louis Sheriff’s Office reached a settlement of the charges brought by the EEOC, which also included allegations of age bias. However, the Sheriff’s Office isn’t off the hook yet, as the settlement does not preclude the terminated workers from pursuing their claims in court.
Commenting on the case, EEOC Chair Lucas reiterated: “The EEOC is firmly committed to enforcing our nation’s civil rights laws evenhandedly, without favor or prejudice, to ensure all workers are protected. . . Race discrimination is unlawful no matter who the target is, and employers must ensure their decisions are not based on bias or stereotype.”
The EEOC under Lucas has made clear that there is a new sheriff in town, so to speak. The agency’s priorities and focus have shifted in important ways. What hasn’t changed? Employers should always ensure that employment decisions are made based on legitimate, job-related factors rather than protected characteristics, and are never driven by retaliation.
