Following a Compact magazine exposé documenting how diversity initiatives derailed white men’s careers, the Trump administration is urging aggrieved workers to file discrimination claims and seek compensation.

The chairwoman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Andrea Lucas, released a video Wednesday instructing white men who may have faced workplace discrimination based on race or sex to contact her office “as soon as possible,” noting that they may be entitled to financial compensation “under federal civil rights laws.”

Ms. Lucas affirmed the commission’s commitment to “identifying, attacking, and eliminating all race and sex discrimination — including against white male employees and applicants.”

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. In 2025 the Supreme Court ruled that white employees should not be subject to a higher bar than minority workers in proving workplace discrimination, making it easier for white individuals to bring claims for bias in promotions or hiring.

Ms. Lucas’s statement drew praise from conservative figures and critics of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, including Daily Wire host Michael Knowles, who shared Ms. Lucas’s post on X, adding, “This is the way.” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Robert Henderson, known for his work on social class, similarly lauded the move. “Remember the despair you felt exactly five years ago and now look,” he wrote on X. “What a world.”

Conservative commentator and leader of the national campaign against Critical Race Theory, Christopher Rufo, called the commission’s initiative “a massive shift.”

The outreach effort aligns with President Trump’s campaign pledge to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and return to a system of “merit-based opportunity.” One of the executive orders issued on the first day of his second administration directed federal agencies to combat “illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI” in both the government and the private sector.

The commission’s announcement also comes as debate intensifies around anti-white discrimination following the release Monday of a now-viral article detailing the consequences of DEI hiring practices.

“The Lost Generation,” written by Jacob Savage, examines how DEI policies implemented across American industries between 2014 and 2024 systematically excluded white male millennials from professional advancement. The article traces sharp demographic shifts in media, academia, Hollywood, tech, medicine, and law, showing that in certain fields, the percentage of white men in entry-level positions dropped to as low as 10 percent — a fraction of their previous standing at roughly half.

“In industry after industry, gatekeepers promised extra consideration to anyone who wasn’t a white man — and then provided just that,” Mr. Savage wrote. 

The article draws on Mr. Savage’s own struggles to break into Hollywood as a writer while being rejected by executives who said they “couldn’t have an all-white-male writers room.” Mr. Savage also incorporates insights gathered through interviews with dozens of white male millennials and the hiring managers who turned them down.

“For a typical job we’d get a couple hundred applications, probably at least 80 from white guys,” one hiring manager told Mr. Savage. “It was a given that we weren’t gonna hire the best person. … It was jarring how we would talk about excluding white guys.”

The article has garnered tens of millions of views on social media and drawn attention from top administration officials, including Vice President Vance, who called it “an incredible piece that describes the evil of DEI.”