Trump's DOJ Lauches Investigation into California EPA Over Racist DEI-Based Hiring Practices

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened an investigation into the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) over allegations that it engaged in discriminatory hiring practices based on race and gender.

CalEPA is accused of using far-left “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) as hiring criteria.

In a letter dated Wednesday, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division notified CalEPA that it was examining whether the agency “is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, color, sex, and national origin in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

“Our investigation is based on information that CalEPA may be engaged in employment practices that discriminate against employees, job applicants, and training program participants based on race, color, sex, and national origin in violation of Title VII,” wrote Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

The letter cited CalEPA’s Practices to Advance Racial Equity in Workforce Planning document, which instructs hiring officials to “apply a racial equity lens to every phase of workforce development” and recommends that “interview panels should reflect racial, ethnic, gender, and other diversity as much as possible.”

The document further states that “including different groups of people and perspectives in the hiring process, including people of color, can lessen the impact of in-group bias in hiring,” and encourages managers to use “screening practices” that weigh “cultural competency and lived experience” alongside traditional qualifications.

“When forming the screening criteria, broaden the focus on applicable knowledge, skills, and abilities to include points in the Screening Criteria Scoring Key pertaining to cultural competency and lived experience,” the CalEPA guidance reads.

In announcing the investigation, Dhillon emphasized that such practices may violate federal law.

“Race-based employment practices and policies in America’s local and state agencies violate equal treatment under the law,” she said.

“Agencies that unlawfully use protected characteristics as a factor in employment and hiring risk serious legal consequences.”

It comes after top corporations have responded to pressure from Trump by walking back Marxism-rooted DEI policies that have divided America, the Washington Times reported.

During the Biden era, DEI became a whole-of-government effort as the White House set explicit racial targets and shoveled public money toward the government’s favored groups, while shutting out whites and other supposedly dominant demographics.

Trump’s approach has been just as sweeping, but in the other direction.

The president has threatened to cut off government funds to institutions that practice DEI, and he has clarified that such policies violate civil rights law, creating a starkly new legal climate for corporations and universities to navigate.

Many companies in the private sector are walking a tightrope between placating the government and keeping woke activists at bay.

Some major chains, such as Costco, have publicly resisted Trump’s pressure, but others have tried to play it both ways, adopting new language to dodge scrutiny.

Meanwhile, a longtime anchor at Boston’s CBS affiliate has recently filed a federal lawsuit accusing the network of demoting her to satisfy corporate DEI quotas, effectively ending her career.

Katherine Merrill Dunham, better known to viewers as Kate Merrill, filed her complaint in Boston federal court on August 5.

She alleges that WBZ-TV, under pressure from parent companies CBS and Paramount Global, “exploited” DEI policies and punished her for being white to advance the corporations’ DEI agenda.

The lawsuit cites internal comments by CBS executives who claimed WBZ was “too white,” “the least diverse station for on-air talent,” and the “whitest of all their stations.”

In 2021, CBS publicly pledged that “diversity, equity, and inclusion standards need to be a top priority for leadership in every corner.”