DOJ Probes California EPA Alleging Discriminatory Hiring (1)

The Justice Department is looking into claims that the California Environmental Protection Agency discriminated on the basis of race, sex, color, or national origin.

The allegations, laid out in an Aug. 27 letter to the agency, are the latest action by a White House that has taken a firm stance against diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. President Donald Trump signed an anti-DEI executive order on his first day in office and the Justice Department moved swiftly to focus civil rights enforcement priorities against those programs in the public and private sectors.

California has also been a frequent target of Trump for its opposition to policies on everything from DEI, to gender-affirming care, climate regulations and immigration.

The powerful California Air Resources Board (CARB), one of the California EPA’s biggest offices, is being investigated for employment practices that may “discriminate against employees, job applicants, and training program participants based on race, color, sex, and national origin,” Harmeet K. Dhillon, head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, wrote in the letter.

Dhillon cited a CARB document, the Racial Equity Framework and Model for Change, which referenced a 2020 letter from Black CARB employees asking the agency to shift its culture “from one of white privilege to an actively anti-racist and more inclusive culture that values and affirms Black lives.”

“CARB refers to these efforts as ‘organizing/woke,’” Dhillon wrote, invoking a word Trump and his allies have repeatedly mocked and railed against.

CARB’s principles also seem to arise from a 2021 California EPA document, which explains the agency will apply a “racial equity lens” to achieve race-based workforce outcomes, screen for “cultural competency and lived experience,” and make sure interview panels reflect racial, ethnic, gender, and other diversity, according to DOJ.

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

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

CARB is tasked with regulating air pollution within California and has advanced aggressive automotive emissions requirements and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Many of those policies, such as its implementation of a state law that requires companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions annually, have been targeted by Congress and the Trump administration, as well as challenged in court.