Justice Department Opens Investigation into California Environmental Protection Agency for Discriminatory Employment Practices

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation into the California Environmental Protection Agency (CAL EPA), including the California Air Resources Board (CARB), to determine whether it may be engaged in employment practices that discriminate based on race, sex, color, and national origin.

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.” Further, 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.

The Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section is investigating whether the California Environmental Protection Agency is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, sex, and other protected characteristics, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.

“Race-based employment practices and policies in America’s local and state agencies violate equal treatment under the law,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Agencies that unlawfully use protected characteristics as a factor in employment and hiring risk serious legal consequences.”

You can read the notice letter here.