May 11, 2026
Court Rules Employer’s DEI Training is Lawful
A white employee quit his job four months after attending the employer’s DEI training program. He alleged he was constructively discharged (he effectively had no choice but to quit) as a result of the training that created a hostile work environment for him in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1954. Some of the facts were disputed, and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave the former employee deference on some of his claims, including that the training:
- referred to “white people’s oppression of minorities”;
- instructed leaders to treat employees differently based on race (“letting less powerful people speak first”); and
- included videos about discrimination and “generalized discussion about White people’s attitudes toward race.”
The court disagreed with the plaintiff’s claim. Although the employee objected to the content, he did not show how it “affected his job responsibilities, interactions with fellow employees, or career advancement.” The court reminds us that to violate Title VII, the conduct complained of “must be extreme to amount to a change in the terms and conditions of employment.”
Take aways. The court gave examples of what content they found helpful in finding it was lawful including a statement that employees did not need to change their values or beliefs and should discuss questions and challenges from the training.
The court also gave examples of what content might constitute unlawful DEI training. “[P]erhaps an ongoing, continuing commitment from…supervisors to mandatory [equity, diversity, and inclusion] trainings with content similar to the one here may evolve into a plausible hostile workplace claim.”
Consider the examples here and in another recent case to assess your related training programs. Talk to your company’s employment counsel. A rose is a rose. Whether you call your training “Workplace Civility and Respect,” “Maintaining an Inclusive Workplace,” or “DEI Training” – your contents are key.
