Reverse discrimination has been a hot topic heading into 2026.
But while court dockets logged several lawsuits filed by majority-group plaintiffs in 2025 — many of whom were White current or former employees challenging employers’ hiring practices, training and other internal DEI policies — attorneys who spoke to HR Dive in the past week said they have not seen much of an increase in reverse discrimination litigation, if at all.
“I have not observed, as a matter of practice, an increase in the number of [such] cases,” said Julie Levinson Werner, partner at Lowenstein Sandler, who instead noted that the biggest shift on the subject has been the attention paid to it by employers and members of the public.
Andrew Scroggins, partner at Seyfarth Shaw, agreed and told HR Dive that a more significant change is the emphasis that regulators, namely the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, have placed on bringing reverse discrimination claims. This was perhaps best exemplified by EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas’ December social media post inviting White men to submit discrimination charges to the agency.
“Title VII always was intended to prevent discrimination and harassment, and it didn’t matter which direction that was flowing,” Scroggins said. “The difference is in the type of charges brought forward that were typically not the kind of charges that the EEOC would devote its resources to.”
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