A racial bias lawsuit against gas station chain Sheetz is moving forward after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) withdrew from the case, citing alignment with former President Donald Trump’s executive order.

Filed in April 2024, the EEOC’s class-action suit alleged Sheetz’s blanket policy of rejecting applicants with criminal records disproportionately affected Black, Native American, Alaskan Native, and multiracial candidates—violating Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act due to its disparate impact.

However, on June 5, the EEOC filed a motion to dismiss the case. The agency said enforcing disparate-impact discrimination claims would contradict Trump’s April 23 executive order, which directed federal agencies to end such enforcement. The EEOC requested a 60-day delay in dismissal to notify potential class members and allow them to seek private legal counsel.

This case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, marks one of the first instances where Trump’s directive has been put into action. Trump argues that disparate-impact liability stifles merit-based hiring and is unconstitutional, echoing positions found in the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” plan.

However, former Democratic EEOC and Labor Department officials criticized the move, warning employers not to follow the executive order. They emphasized that disparate-impact liability is supported by longstanding Supreme Court precedent and remains a core element of federal anti-discrimination law.

Plaintiff-side firm Outten & Golden, along with the Public Interest Law Center, has taken up the case. Attorney Ben Geffen emphasized the applicant’s right to be evaluated based on qualifications, not past convictions irrelevant to the job. “When the government steps back, we step in,” he said. “We won’t let politics erase civil rights protections.”

The EEOC previously spent nearly ten years investigating Sheetz’s hiring practices. This move follows a similar pattern to previous Trump-era EEOC withdrawals from cases involving transgender workers, highlighting growing political interference in federal discrimination enforcement.

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Source: Hrdive.com