Employment Agency Pushes Discrimination Cases That Match Trump’s Agenda

Trump

Administration

live

Updates

April 27, 2026, 2:51 p.m. ET

Shooting at Correspondents’ Dinner

Gas Prices

Powell Investigation Dropped

Approval Rating

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Supported by

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Employment Agency Pushes Discrimination Cases That Match Trump’s Agenda

Field staff at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission say they are being pressured to bring politically charged cases, even with little evidence.

Listen

· 12:24 min

Share full article

Andrea Lucas, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has recast the agency to carry out President Trump’s executive orders, according to employees there.

Credit...

Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times

By

Rebecca Davis O’Brien

April 27, 2026,

2:16 p.m. ET

See more of our coverage in your search results.

Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda.

Add The New York Times on Google

Agrega The New York Times en Google

Field staff at the federal agency that enforces civil rights laws in the workplace say they are under intense pressure from leadership to bring in cases that fit the Trump administration’s priorities, including charges of discrimination against white men and charges of antisemitism on college campuses.

That pressure has led investigators and lawyers at the agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to focus

its thin resources on pursuing and fast-tracking

cases

that

have little evidence and tenuous legal bases, according to more than a dozen current and former employees, both Republicans and Democrats.

They described a deeply demoralized and fearful work force, diminished by years of attrition and a surge of resignations and retirements during the second Trump administration. Current and recently departed employees, who requested anonymity because they feared professional repercussions, said the commission’s Republican chair, Andrea Lucas, has

recast the agency

to carry out President Trump’s executive orders. They said they felt compelled to speak because they were concerned about the future of the agency, where many saw their work enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws as a moral calling that has now been abandoned.

Ms. Lucas has provided regular updates on major cases to the White House, two current employees said. That is a departure from the past, when there was a firewall between the agency and the White House. The contact is in keeping with the Trump administration’s view — which Ms. Lucas has publicly supported, and which the Supreme Court is expected to rule on this year — that agencies like the commission are not independent but are subject to the president’s authority.

Two people said Ms. Lucas and her staff scoured case files in the agency’s internal database and became directly involved with cases. Current and former employees said that while leadership has been involved on high-profile cases in the past, the extent of her involvement was without precedent.

Ms. Lucas, who Mr. Trump appointed to run the agency in 2025, has conveyed to staff that she is under pressure from the White House to produce cases the administration favors. Employees said they have been led to believe that bringing these cases is necessary to ensure the agency’s funding. Earlier this month, the White House

released a budget

recommending a $20 million funding increase for the commission — returning it to its 2025 level of $455 million, after a cut last year.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and

log into

your Times account, or

subscribe

for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?

Log in

.

Want all of The Times?

Subscribe

.

Related Content

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT