Despite the Trump administration’s designation of many diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as illegal discrimination, federal courts have largely rejected claims from white employees that mandating participation in such programs constitutes reverse discrimination based on race. Last week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that the plaintiff failed to prove that a state education department’s mandated equity policies treated her differently from other employees based on race.

In Spengler v. Cooperative Educational Service Agency 7, the plaintiff’s agency required that employees in her position adopt an "equity mindset" and examine their own implicit biases against marginalized communities. She objected, claiming that the requirement discriminated against white persons by assuming they were born racist. Following a demotion, she appealed the district court’s dismissal of her race discrimination and First Amendment claims.

On appeal, the Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of the plaintiff’s Title VII claims, but remanded her First Amendment allegations. The court concluded that the plaintiff failed to demonstrate that the equity requirement treated her differently based on her race. She admitted that had a Black employee expressed similar resistance to her employer’s directions, he or she would have faced the same consequences. Despite her belief that the requirement singled out white employees, the plaintiff could not point to evidence that the employer did not consider persons of other races to have the same potential biases.

Because the employer was a public agency, the Seventh Circuit determined that the plaintiff had alleged sufficient grounds to proceed on her First Amendment claims that she was punished based on her expression of objections to the employer’s position. For private sector employers, federal courts continue to express skepticism over claims that exposure to DEI programs constitutes harassment or discrimination against white employees.

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