Lawsuit is first by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over workplace DEI in Trump’s second term

I wasn’t initially going to bother posting this, but the more I thought about it, the only thing that came to mind is “who gets pissed over missing out on a corporate team-building retreat?” Seems the men drew the longer straw.

A US civil rights agency has sued a bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products it accuses of sex discrimination over an employee networking event that excluded men, its first lawsuit over workplace diversity programs since Donald Trump took office. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, says Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast violated federal law when it hosted the event for about 250 female employees at a casino in Connecticut in September 2024.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is owned by Kirin Holdings, a Japanese company. Coca-Cola is not a defendant in the case.

The case in New Hampshire federal court is an early test of claims by Trump administration officials, including the EEOC chair Andrea Lucas, that many common workplace diversity, equity and inclusion programs amount to unlawful “reverse discrimination”. Trump has moved aggressively to eradicate DEI from the federal government, the private sector and higher education, saying it is discriminatory and erodes merit-based decision-making.

  • Crotaro@beehaw.org
    6·
    4 months ago

    This is very curious and I’m with you “Oh noooo, I wish I could spend my free time at this teambuilding event, but alas, I have this dingle dongle between my legs, how sadge” But, to be fair, it is pretty odd to create a team-building event exclusively for women (unless the topics there are also exclusively relatable to women, too).

    Oh and reading the last paragraph, it seems that it wasn’t “This is after work-hours and your free time” or “This is on a workday but you gotta use your PTO”, instead it was during paid working hours. Then, I would also be more inclined to be peeved if the reason I wouldn’t go there wasn’t due to me being in a different department or something but because I was the wrong gender (again, unless the topics at the event specifically only target one gender’s issues)

    Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast excused female employees who attended the event from their normal work duties without requiring them to use paid time off, and covered all of their hotel room charges, according to the lawsuit.