The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) over the department's focus on racial equity when hiring, promoting and retaining employees.
The government on Wednesday sent a letter to the agency claiming that CalEPA "may be engaged in employment practices that discriminate ... based on race, color, sex, and national origin" due to a document titled "Practices to Advance Racial Equity in Workforce Planning," which advocates for diverse interview panels and for "applying a racial equity lens to every phase of workforce development."
"In publicly available guidance documents, CAL EPA highlights 'hiring, promotion and retention practices and policies' that indicate it may be using protected characteristics to 'advance racial equity,'" the letter stated. "Further, [the California Air Resources Board] CARB, a division of CAL EPA, appears to use these policies to engage in discriminatory employment practices in its 'Racial Equity Framework,' which aims to advance race-based decision-making within the agency."
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a written statement that "race-based employment practices and policies in America's local and state agencies violate equal treatment under the law. Agencies that unlawfully use protected characteristics as a factor in employment and hiring risk serious legal consequences."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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