Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

On Tuesday, February 11, the State of Missouri sued Starbucks for violations of federal and state laws prohibiting race discrimination. In a statement regarding the lawsuit, Attorney General Andrew Bailey said, “[r]acism has no place in Missouri. [The State] fil[ed] suit to halt [a] blatant violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act in its tracks.”

Wednesday evening, February 5, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a series of memos to various divisions of the Department of Justice (DOJ). One memo asserted that the DOJ will take action to enforce President Trump’s efforts to eliminate illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, as outlined in Executive Order 14173 (“Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”).

On Monday, February 3, a group of organizations, including representatives of university diversity officers, sued President Trump and his administration, seeking to halt and declare unconstitutional two executive orders aimed at ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

On January 20, 2025, Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. Fulfilling one of his major campaign promises, he issued a series of executive orders on his first day in office. Two of these orders represent a significant shift regarding gender and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

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One Year Later: The Effects of the Harvard/UNC Decision on DEI

This past week, the EEOC filed suit against 15 different employers located across 11 different states. There was one common theme in each action: an employer’s failure to complete EEO-1 Component 1 reports for both 2021 and 2022. By filing these lawsuits, the EEOC is requesting courts to order these employers to fulfill their requirement of providing their company’s workforce demographic data. These suits were filed just ahead of the deadline for employers to file their EEO-1 Component 1 report reflecting data from the 2023 calendar year, which is quickly approaching on June 4, 2024.

Please join Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP for a complimentary webinar:

An (Un)Predictable Future – 2024 Employment Issues to Watch

Wednesday, March 13, 2024
12:00–1:00 pm ET
11:00 am–12:00 pm CT
9:00–10:00 am PT

On December 6, 2023, the US Supreme Court heard arguments for Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, which may have significant implications for discrimination cases under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Specifically, the Supreme Court in this case could clarify whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires a clear showing of significant disadvantage or tangible harm to have an actionable claim.

Webinar: Is DEI Dead? What the Supreme Court’s Harvard/UNC Affirmative Action Decisions Mean For DEI Initiatives

The U.S. Supreme Court in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College decided that the race-based admissions programs at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina (the “Schools”) violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. While the Court answered the question for publicly funded schools, it is an open question whether, and how, the Court’s decision will impact affirmative action and diversity programs for private employers, as discussed in more detail below.