How racism shapes hiring, pay and promotion, what federal law still protects in 2026 and what employees and managers can do as companies scale back diversity programs.
Racism at work shows up in who gets called for an interview, who gets promoted and who gets paid more. In the second quarter of 2026, Black full-time workers in the United States had median weekly earnings of $1,029, and white workers earned $1,268 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). That puts Black workers at about 81 cents for every dollar white workers earn. Black women earned $991 a week, about 71 percent of the $1,400 white men earned (BLS). In August 2026, the Black unemployment rate was 6.0 percent, compared with 3.7 percent for white workers (BLS).
Much of this gap starts before anyone is hired. In a study published in 2004, economists Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan sent identical résumés to employers in Boston and Chicago. Résumés with white-sounding names got 50 percent more callbacks than those with Black-sounding names (National Bureau of Economic Research). A 2021 follow-up by Patrick Kline, Evan Rose and Christopher Walters sent more than 83,000 applications to over 100 Fortune 500 companies. The companies with the worst grades favored white applicants by 24 percent (Becker Friedman Institute). Employers often blame a small “pipeline” of qualified Black candidates, but these studies compared applicants with the same qualifications. Bias also enters through performance reviews, informal sponsorship and pay decisions that no one checks.
Federal policy changed quickly in 2025. On Jan. 21, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, which revoked Executive Order 11246 (Federal Register). Since 1965, that order had required federal contractors to keep affirmative action plans. The Labor Department estimated it covered about 107,000 supply and service establishments and about 10,000 construction contractors (Federal Register). On March 19, 2025, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Justice Department said employee resource groups, mentoring and training can’t be limited by race (Littler). On April 23, 2025, Executive Order 14281 told agencies to stop prioritizing “disparate impact” cases, a legal theory the Supreme Court first recognized in 1971 (Woods Rogers). On June 5, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services that majority-group workers face the same standard of proof as anyone else under Title VII (Supreme Court). The EEOC regained a quorum on Oct. 7, 2025 (Holland & Knight). Its guidance says race can’t be even one motivating factor in a job decision, and it tells workers who believe a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program harmed them to file a charge (EEOC). In January 2026, the commission voted to require its approval before the agency files any new lawsuit (Morgan Lewis).
Companies have responded mostly by changing their language. The Conference Board found that use of the term “DEI” in S&P 500 annual filings fell 68 percent from 2024 to 2025. The share of those companies tying executive pay to DEI goals fell from 68 percent to 35 percent, and board oversight of DEI rose to 79 percent (The Conference Board). Meta ended its DEI team in January 2025 (Ongig). Target ended its REACH racial equity program on Jan. 24, 2025 (Yahoo News). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 still applies. It bars employers with 15 or more workers from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and it bars retaliation against anyone who complains or helps an investigation (EEOC). Private workers can still bring disparate impact claims in court (Woods Rogers).
10 actions — for yourself, your community and the country. Start with one.
The National Labor Relations Act protects most private-sector, non-supervisory workers who discuss wages, and employer rules that ban those talks are unlawful. Try this with a trusted coworker: “I’m trying to make sure we’re all paid fairly here. I make $___. Would you be open to sharing yours? I won’t pass it on without asking you.” If you face retaliation, call the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at 844-762-6572.
More than a dozen states, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Washington, require salary ranges in some job postings. Find your employer’s current postings for your own role and check your pay against the range. If you fall below it, bring the posting to your next pay conversation.
Before you file, write down each incident with the date, who was there, what was said and any emails or reviews. You must file a charge within 180 calendar days, or 300 days if your state or city has its own anti-discrimination agency. Federal employees must contact an EEO counselor within 45 days. Start an inquiry on the EEOC Public Portal or call 1-800-669-4000.
Use short, neutral lines when a Black colleague is talked over or their idea is credited to someone else. Try:
“I want to hear Dana finish her point.” Or: “That builds on what Marcus said earlier. Marcus, do you want to add anything?” After a comment about someone not being a “culture fit,” ask: “Can we name the specific skill we think is missing?”
Talk to the coworker who said it, in the moment or privately soon after. Diversity trainer Diane Goodman suggests this wording in The New York Times: “I know you didn’t realize this, but when you ___, it was hurtful because ___. Instead you could ___.” Don’t ask a Black coworker to explain the harm for you.
The EEOC’s 2025 guidance says employee resource groups (ERGs) must be open to employees of all backgrounds, and they can still focus on the experiences of Black employees. If your company plans to pause its Black ERG, ask HR in writing to open membership instead of ending the group.
If you manage people, pull your team’s salaries, ratings and promotion dates and sort them by race and gender. Fix any gap you can’t explain before the next review cycle. Project Include publishes free recommendations on hiring, onboarding and measuring progress.
In 2025, union members had median weekly earnings of $1,404, compared with $1,174 for nonunion workers. Black workers had the highest union membership rate of any racial group, at 11.4 percent. Contact an organizer through the AFL-CIO’s form, and read Labor Notes’ free organizing guides.
When your team needs a new vendor, ask procurement to search the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) supplier database. Its 23 regional councils certify minority-owned businesses and match them with member companies.
The Lawyers’ Committee runs an Economic Justice Project that takes on discrimination in jobs and business. Set up a monthly gift, or split it with the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for racial and economic justice at work.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, banning racial discrimination in the defense industry and creating the Fair Employment Practice Committee. He signed it one week before A. Philip Randolph’s planned march on Washington. Read more ›
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the act bars employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Read more ›
The EEOC opened to enforce Title VII. Read more ›
President Johnson signed Executive Order 11246. It barred federal contractors from discriminating and required larger contractors to keep affirmative action plans. Read more ›
In Griggs v. Duke Power Co., the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that job requirements that screen out Black workers are illegal unless they are related to the job. The case created the disparate impact doctrine. Read more ›
President Jimmy Carter appointed Eleanor Holmes Norton as the first woman to chair the EEOC. She served until 1981. Read more ›
Workers at Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, voted 1,798 to 738 against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Nearly 5,900 people worked at the site. Read more ›
In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that race-conscious admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate the Equal Protection Clause. Read more ›
President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, revoking Executive Order 11246 after nearly 60 years. The Labor Department’s contract compliance office closed all pending reviews under the old order. Read more ›
Executive Order 14281 directed federal agencies to deprioritize enforcement based on disparate impact. Read more ›
In Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that majority-group plaintiffs do not have to meet a higher standard of proof under Title VII. Read more ›
The Senate confirmed Brittany Panuccio to the EEOC, restoring the commission’s quorum for the first time since January 2025. President Trump named Andrea Lucas chair on Nov. 5, 2025. Read more ›
Livingston, a social psychologist at Harvard Kennedy School, gives leaders a research-based method for talking about racism at work and then acting on it.
From our Banned Books Book Club list: Reshaping and Reimagining Culture
A career guide for women of color on advocating for pay, promotions and sponsorship in workplaces where they are often the only one.
Harts covers microaggressions, burnout and what managers and coworkers can do to repair harm.
A practical book for managers on hiring, feedback and meetings, with specific steps to reduce bias.
Pao describes her 2015 discrimination lawsuit against the venture firm Kleiner Perkins and the founding of Project Include.
McGhee shows how zero-sum thinking about race has lowered wages and weakened public goods for workers of every race.
A study of how minority executives reached the top of large companies, with a focus on mentoring and sponsorship.
A history of the Pullman porters and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the union A. Philip Randolph led.
Shop the Banned Books Book Club. Every book above links to our Banned Books Book Club shop on Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores. Related lists:
Free public trainings on bystander intervention, responding to harassment and conflict de-escalation. The group also offers a workplace version for employers.
Evidence-based toolkits for hiring, performance reviews, compensation, meetings and access to opportunities. They change workplace systems instead of relying on one-time training.
An online test that measures automatic associations about race and other traits. Take it before you sit on a hiring panel.
Free guides on building a union, striking and organizing in open-shop states, plus free handouts from Secrets of a Successful Organizer in English and Spanish.
Plain-language guides on discrimination, harassment, retaliation and filing government claims, plus a directory of employment lawyers who represent workers.
Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, the first successful Black-led labor union. His threatened 1941 march won Executive Order 8802, and he led the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Murray, a lawyer and activist, wrote a 1964 memo that helped keep “sex” in Title VII and coined the term “Jane Crow.” She co-founded the National Organization for Women in 1966.
Griggs led a group of Black workers at Duke Power’s Dan River Steam Station who challenged diploma and test requirements. Their case produced the 1971 Supreme Court ruling that created disparate impact law.
Norton chaired the EEOC from 1977 to 1981, the first woman in that role. Under her, the agency issued its first rules defining sexual harassment as illegal discrimination.
Crenshaw, a law professor, coined “intersectionality” in 1989, using the case DeGraffenreid v. General Motors to show how courts failed Black women. She co-founded the African American Policy Forum.
Spriggs was chief economist of the AFL-CIO and a Howard University professor who studied labor market discrimination. His 2020 open letter challenged economists to take racism in hiring and pay seriously.
Wilson directs the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy. She publishes regular analyses of Black employment and wages.
Pao sued the venture firm Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination, and a jury ruled for the firm in 2015. In 2016 she co-founded Project Include, which publishes free inclusion recommendations for tech companies.
Harts is an author and speaker whose books The Memo and Right Within address the workplace experiences of women of color.
Defines racial microaggressions, describes their toll at work and gives a script for bystanders who want to name one.
Uses a 2020 Wells Fargo CEO memo to examine the “pipeline problem” claim and how referral hiring and name bias shape who gets hired.
Covers the Black women-led union drive at Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, and the company’s anti-union campaign.
Tracks how pandemic job losses in 2020 fell hardest on Black and Latina women and the gaps in paid leave that drove them.
NPR’s weekly show on how race affects every part of society, from politics and history to pop culture.
The African American Policy Forum’s podcast, hosted by the scholar who coined “intersectionality,” on race, gender and law.
Three constitutional law professors explain Supreme Court cases and the legal culture around them. New episodes come out every Monday.
Harvard Business Review’s weekly interview show with researchers and business leaders on management.
A personal finance and career podcast for women of color that covers job searches, pay and debt.
No law bans DEI programs by name. Title VII has always barred decisions based on race, and the EEOC now says ERGs, mentoring and training can’t be limited by race (EEOC). Programs open to everyone, such as pay audits and structured interviews, remain legal.
Yes. Title VII still bars race discrimination and retaliation at employers with 15 or more workers (EEOC). A company policy change does not change federal law, and many states have their own anti-discrimination laws.
Those factors explain part of it, but not all. In controlled studies, employers received résumés that differed only by name, and the ones with Black-sounding names got fewer callbacks (National Bureau of Economic Research). In a 2021 study of over 100 Fortune 500 companies, the worst-graded firms favored white applicants by 24 percent (Becker Friedman Institute).
Some courts had required majority-group plaintiffs to show extra “background circumstances” before their case could proceed. In June 2025 the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that everyone must meet the same standard (Supreme Court). The ruling applies to all workers, including Black workers.
For most private-sector workers who are not supervisors, no. The National Labor Relations Act protects wage discussions, and rules that ban them are unlawful (NLRB). Some states add their own protections.
You generally have 180 calendar days from the incident to file an EEOC charge, or 300 days if your state or city has its own enforcement agency. Federal employees must contact an EEO counselor within 45 days. Each separate act, such as a demotion and a later firing, has its own deadline (EEOC).
Filing a charge is still required before most Title VII lawsuits, and it preserves your deadline (EEOC). Since January 2026, the commission must vote before the agency files any new lawsuit (Morgan Lewis). Many workers also talk to a private employment lawyer, and Workplace Fairness keeps a directory of lawyers who represent workers.
Every claim in this guide is cited inline. Here are all 35 sources in one place.
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