Andrea Lucas argues that the administration's plan to end annual workforce demographic reporting will reduce costs and prevent companies from using quotas.
Andrea Lucas, the nominee for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, testified that the administration is moving to eliminate a 60-year-old requirement for private employers to submit annual workforce demographic reports. The Republican-majority commission voted 2-1 to rescind the requirement, which has historically tracked the gender and racial breakdown of over 50 million employees. Lucas argued that the mandatory reporting often encourages companies to justify discriminatory practices to diversify their workforce, potentially promoting racial stereotyping. She noted that the requirement imposes hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs on employers in the absence of specific evidence of discrimination. The proposal, recommended by Project 2025, aims to streamline civil rights enforcement under the administration. While critics, including Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal, argue that the move may "kneecap" the agency's ability to uncover discrimination patterns, Lucas emphasized that the EEOC will still demand extensive data during specific investigations. The move reflects a broader shift toward prioritizing the protection of white workers from diversity and inclusion policies.