Despite Trump order, abandoning DEI could land companies in legal trouble

Jan 23 (Reuters) - U.S. companies that scale back workplace diversity efforts to avoid scrutiny from the Trump administration may be exposing themselves to more discrimination lawsuits by workers, experts said.

President Donald Trump this week issued a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and encouraging private companies to do the same. Trump ordered all agencies to identify potential targets for civil investigations, who could then be subjected to legal action.

Some companies have already ended or scaled back DEI initiatives in response to conservative backlash, legal threats, and Trump's November election victory, and more are expected to follow suit.

But many common corporate policies that fall under the DEI umbrella, such as auditing pay practices, requiring diverse pools of job candidates, and ensuring that promotions are awarded fairly are crucial tools for employers to ensure compliance with state and federal laws banning workplace bias, lawyers and other experts said.

“When companies are sued by women or people of color and they're held liable for discrimination ... the Trump administration can't save them and nothing in this executive order can save them," said Jason Solomon, director of the National Institute for Workers' Rights, a left-leaning think tank.

To be sure, some lawyers who represent companies and critics of diversity programs pushed back on the claim that DEI is critical to complying with employment laws, saying diversity initiatives were just as likely to cause discrimination as to prevent it.

"It comes down to making personnel decisions for legitimate, non-d...
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