EEOC sues Coca-Cola bottler, alleging men barred from women’s forum

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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, alleging the regional bottler excluded men from a company-sponsored networking trip for about 250 women at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. The EEOC filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal district court in New Hampshire, saying the company’s event violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The EEOC said the suit is based on a complaint from a male employee of Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast who challenged what the agency described as a two-day networking trip limited to women in September 2024. According to the EEOC, the agency sought to resolve the matter through conciliation but failed to reach an agreement with the company.

Acting EEOC general counsel Catherine L. Eschbach said in a statement Wednesday announcing the case that “Excluding men from an employer-sponsored event is a Title VII violation that the EEOC will act to remedy through litigation when necessary.” The EEOC said it filed the lawsuit after failing to reach a conciliation agreement with Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, which serves New England and upstate New York.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press, Coca-Cola Northeast said it “finds it disappointing that the EEOC did not conduct a full investigation and we look forward to having our day in open court when we can tell the full story and expect to be vindicated.” The company declined to comment on the details of the lawsuit.

The EEOC’s complaint alleges that Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast paid for lodging, meals and other benefits for event attendees and also paid their salaries while excusing them from regular work duties. The agency said it is seeking monetary compensation for a class of men it contends were excluded, including damages it described as covering “emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish.”

The EEOC said it is directing the public to a fact sheet on DEI-related discrimination that takes aim at practices such as training, employee resource groups and fellowship programs, while warning that some of those efforts could veer into discrimination depending on how they are constructed. The EEOC’s filing also comes amid heightened scrutiny of corporate diversity programs, according to the Associated Press report.

The case centers on Andrea Lucas, the EEOC chair and a Trump appointee, who has been described by critics as a staunch opponent of many corporate DEI practices. The report said that in December Lucas posted a social media call-out urging white men to come forward if they have experienced discrimination at work.

Civil rights activists and former Democratic commissioners of the EEOC have criticized Lucas’s approach, saying it risks undermining DEI practices that courts have upheld and that are intended to address structural barriers for women and minorities. David Glasgow, a diversity litigation researcher at NYU School of Law, said targeted programs such as networking events for particular demographic groups have been especially vulnerable to legal challenges.

Glasgow said most lawsuits challenging “targeted programs” have been resolved through settlements in which the defending party opens the program to everyone. “We urge organizations to shift ‘from cohorts to content,’ meaning that instead of limiting participation based on cohort, they could open it up to anyone who is committed to the content of the program,” Glasgow said, adding in an email to AP that it was “a bit odd” for the current EEOC to pursue a regional company over what he described as a two-day women’s retreat. He also said extensive discrimination against women in workplaces remains.

The EEOC did not respond to requests for further comment on the lawsuit.

The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP said it is solely responsible for all content, and AP noted its standards for working with philanthropies are available at AP.org.