Former Amazon Worker Challenges Trump Administration’s Attack on Disparate-Impact Discrimination Claims
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2025
Media Contacts:
Aidan O’Shea, FarmSTAND, Aidan@farmstand.org, (202) 594-8536
Nicole Funaro, Public Justice, nfunaro@publicjustice.net, (203) 435-1722
Omar Baddar, Public Citizen, obaddar@citizen.org, 202-588-7741
Valerie L. Collins, Towards Justice, valerie@towardsjustice.org, (720) 295-1672
EEOC’s sudden reversal on disparate-impact discrimination is latest in effort to weaken civil rights safeguards
Leah Cross, a former Amazon delivery driver, filed suit today against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over its decision to prohibit its employees from continuing to investigate claims like hers.
Last month, the EEOC directed its staff to close all investigations into claims alleging that employer policies have a discriminatory disparate impact, regardless of the merit of the claims. Disparate impact refers to a policy that has an unequal impact on people of different races, genders, sexual orientations, ages, or other protected status.
The EEOC abandoned the investigations in response to an executive order issued by President Trump criticizing disparate impact and directing federal agencies not to rely on it — part of a broader assault by the Trump administration on legal protections that safeguard against civil rights violations. But applicable federal laws require the EEOC to investigate claims of workplace discrimination, and policies with disparate impact have long been recognized as violations of civil rights in the workplace.
Former Amazon driver Leah Cross’s case filed today challenges the EEOC’s decision to unilaterally terminate investigations into disparate impact claims as arbitrary and capricious, and contrary to law, under the Administrative Procedure Act. Cross is represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, FarmSTAND, Towards Justice, and Public Justice in this action.
Cross filed an EEOC charge alleging that Amazon discriminated against her and other delivery drivers by denying them bathroom breaks, which she alleged had a disparate impact on drivers with anatomy typical of people assigned female at birth. The EEOC opened an investigation into Cross’ charge, but the investigation abruptly came to a halt when the EEOC notified her that, because of the decision adopted in September, the agency was administratively closing her charge.
Created by Congress to protect workers in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC is required to investigate charges alleging unlawful employment practices involving discrimination on the bases of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Likewise, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) requires the EEOC to try to resolve age discrimination complaints through informal steps like meetings, discussions, and negotiations. For more than half a century, the EEOC has recognized that prohibited discrimination can take the form of neutral policies or practices that disproportionately harm based on a protected trait like sex or race. For example, promotion systems that favor employees with uninterrupted work history disproportionately harm women, who are more likely to take time off for caregiving.
“The EEOC is required by Congress to investigate all charges of sex discrimination in employment that workers bring to the agency based on the applicable law and the strength of the facts and evidence in each case,” said Karla Gilbride, an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group who represents Ms. Cross. “It isn’t allowed to throw away an entire category of charges without looking into their facts just because the president doesn’t like the type of discrimination those charges are based on. The Supreme Court has held for over 50 years that disparate-impact discrimination is against the law, and the president’s preferences don’t change that.”
“We’re going to court to make sure the EEOC does its job,” said Shelby Leighton, an attorney at Public Justice. “Workers have a right to have their claims of illegal discrimination investigated, no matter what kind of discrimination they allege.”
“This new disparate impact rule — and the resulting abandonment of disparate impact claims nationwide — is directly contrary to the EEOC’s core mission: to investigate allegations of discrimination,” said Valerie Collins, an attorney at Towards Justice. “We cannot allow this administration to continue undermining essential workplace protections.”
“The Trump Administration’s sudden decision to illegally halt EEOC disparate impact investigations serves to grow the power of companies like Amazon over their employees, and would make life worse for so many victims of discrimination at work,” said Nathan Leys, Staff Attorney at FarmSTAND. “It’s important that Leah Cross is standing up to fight for all workers’ rights and dignity today.”
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Public Citizen Litigation Group is the litigating arm of the consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen. The Litigation Group brings administrative law cases to preserve public health, safety, and consumer protections in the face of corporate and government anti-regulatory efforts. It also litigates to preserve access to the civil justice system, to bolster consumer-financial protection statutes, and to advance government transparency. For more information, visit www.citizen.org/litigation.
FarmSTAND is a legal advocacy organization devoted to bringing about a fair food system for all, where everyone is able to work in conditions that are dignified, fair, and healthy.
Towards Justice is a nonprofit legal organization that defends workers and their rights through impact litigation and policy advocacy in Colorado and across the country.