The EEOC is responsible for enforcing the nation’s federal workplace anti-discrimination laws. The agency is tasked with addressing unlawful workplace discrimination in almost every aspect of employment, including hiring, pay, benefits, assignments, promotions, work environments, discipline, and layoffs. But the EEOC is now failing to perform this core duty by refusing to enforce workplace discrimination protections for transgender workers.
Beginning in January 2025, following Trump-Vance administration attempts to redefine federal policy to recognize only two sexes and strip away protections for transgender people, the EEOC halted the investigation process for all charges tied to sexual orientation or gender identity. Soon after, the EEOC moved to dismiss at least seven active lawsuits involving transgender and non-binary workers and instructed staff to classify discrimination complaints involving gender identity as meritless.
As it operates today, the EEOC has adopted a sweeping non-enforcement policy under which it has ceased carrying out its statutorily mandated process for transgender workers. The policy denies transgender workers access to the agency’s investigation process, dismisses ongoing cases brought on their behalf, and halts payments to state and local civil rights agencies for investigating claims tied to discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
On July 26, 2025, Democracy Forward and the National Women’s Law Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of FreeState Justice, challenging this “Trans Exclusion Policy.”
The EEOC’s actions violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection guarantee, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Bostock v. Clayton County precedent, a case where the U.S. Supreme Court held that Title VII’s prohibition against employment discrimination includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, confirming protections for LGBTQ+ workers that the EEOC had already recognized for nearly a decade.
The case is FreeState Justice et al. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Foundation et al.