(Changes reference to ‘discrimination’ from ‘bias’ in paragraphs 4,7,9,11,12,14,18)
By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) -U.S. companies that scale back workplace diversity efforts to avoid scrutiny from the Trump administration may be exposing themselves to more discrimination lawsuits by workers, experts said.
President Donald Trump this week issued a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and encouraging private companies to do the same. Trump ordered all agencies to identify potential targets for civil investigations, who could then be subjected to legal action.
Some companies have already ended or scaled back DEI initiatives in response to conservative backlash, legal threats, and Trump’s November election victory, and more are expected to follow suit.
But many common corporate policies that fall under the DEI umbrella, such as auditing pay practices, requiring…
