US President Donald Trump's administration is urging white men to report if they have faced racial or sexual discrimination at work.

The acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has called upon white men to file workplace discrimination claims.

"Are you a white male who's experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex?" Andrea Lucas wrote on X on Thursday

"You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws," she wrote.  

"The EEOC is committed to identifying, attacking, and eliminating ALL race and sex discrimination -- including against white male employees and applicants."

Lucas' post came about two hours after Vice President JD Vance posted an article he said "describes the evil of DEI and its consequences."

Shifting EEOC's focus under Trump

Since coming back to office in January, Trump has sought to shut off diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives run by the federal government.

He argues that companies implementing such programs hurt America's white majority.

The EEOC is a federal agency created under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to tackle sexism and racism in the workplace.

The EEOC now emphasizes "DEI-related discrimination" on its website.

Since being named as acting chair of EEOC in January (and later becoming chair in November), Lucas has been shifting the agency's focus to prioritize what she calls "rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination,” which is aligned with President Trump's own anti-DEI executive orders.

Under Lucas, the EEOC is seeking to address what it calls discrimination against American workers.

"Many employers have policies and practices preferring illegal aliens, migrant workers, or non-immigrant guest workers (guest worker visa holders) over American workers -- in direct violation of federal employment law," she said in a statement last month.

A study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst suggests that the number of African American employees filing complaints with the EEOC is 195 times higher than among their white colleagues.

Pew Research Center data also suggests that women last year earned an average of 85% of what men earned.

Edited by: Rana Taha