16 State Attorneys General Make a Stand for DEI

DEI efforts are under attack at the federal level, but states are making their stand. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has co-led a coalition of 16 state Attorneys General in issuing guidance to help businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations understand the viability and importance of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) policies and practices in creating and maintaining legally compliant and thriving workplaces.?

The Lazu Group salutes this bold and decisive action taken by the Attorneys General of Massachusetts, Illinois, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. As a long-time social organizer and activist, I was proud to play a role in articulating this guidance, which was issued in response to concerns from employers following a Trump Administration Executive Order that purportedly targets “illegal DEI and DEIA policies.”

The federal government is erasing DEI in federal government and agencies and is now targeting DEI and DEIA policies and practices in the private sector. The Trump Administration is wielding the executive order to combat what it calls “illegal private-sector DEIA preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.” However, as the state Attorneys General explain, the executive order conflates valid and legal programs and practices in support of DEI and DEIA with unlawful preferences in hiring and promotion.?

Private sector efforts to support diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible workplaces are not illegal, and the federal government cannot prohibit these efforts through the executive order.

?For decades, state and federal courts have consistently recognized that DEI and DEIA policies do not amount to impermissible discrimination. In fact, employment discrimination laws generally require employers to pay attention to the impact their policies and practices have on different groups in order to avoid and limit liability for unlawful conduct.

Over the last five years, more than 285,000 discrimination complaints were filed by employees in the coalition’s states alone. In order to effectively avoid liability for discrimination, employers must take steps to proactively prevent and address discrimination, including by identifying and remediating policies and practices that have an unlawful impact on current and prospective employees.

In a statement, the state Attorneys General expressed their readiness to stand in support of “organizations in our respective states as they continue to build and sustain successful and inclusive workplaces by implementing robust diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies consistent with their obligations under our laws.”?

We at The Lazu Group are ready to stand with them and with private sector organizations, including companies and nonprofits, that want to encourage greater diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the workplace.