A federal official has expanded on exactly why billionaire investor Mark Cuban may be in legal violation of hiring discrimination based on race or gender with FOX Business.
"The law’s crystal clear. There's no legitimate business reason that justifies discrimination based on race or sex. Mr. Cuban is conflating the idea that someone's race and sex can be part of the complete package," Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) official Andrea Lucas told FOX Business’ Lydia Hu.
"But that's not provided for under the law," she continued. "And if he's using it as a factor, even if it's not the only factor or the dispositive factor, if it's any part of the decision, then it's a motivating factor, and that's illegal."
Lucas’ comments come just one day after her reply to Cuban went viral on X. Cuban said he had "never hired anyone based exclusively on race, gender, or religion," before qualifying that "race and gender" can sometimes be factored in if it meant putting his business "in the best position to succeed."
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Cuban further said in his post: "Now how would you propose finding organizations that give preference to white people? … Why aren’t you working as hard to show examples of white preferences as you are DEI? You claim to abhor both."
DEI, or diversity, equity, and inclusion, refers to internal policies in private companies and college campuses that aim to increase racial and ethnic representation. Lucas argued that there’s no such thing as "good race discrimination."
"All race discrimination is wrong. It doesn't matter how benevolent you're trying to be here, that you have good intentions. If you're making a decision based on race in whole or in part, you're violating the law," the EEOC official explained.
"Your goals should never be based on just your local community diversity or the American population in general," she added, "It's got to be based on your particular local labor market for the job position and the industry that you're in."
Lucas expanded on the difference between equity and equality and noted she wouldn’t be surprised if a lawsuit was filed against Cuban’s alleged hiring practices.
"The equity part of it indicates race-based motivation, not across the board. Not everyone understands that. Equity sounds nice, it sounds like fairness, but equity is very focused on equity of outcome, not equality of opportunity. And, as I like to say, we're the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, not the ‘Equitable Outcomes Commission.’ Big, big distinction between equity and equality," the official said.
She also voiced support for reducing barriers to equal workplace opportunities that are "good for America and compliant with the law."
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"Don't get messed up with a label that actually doesn't reflect what you're doing," Lucas directed at Cuban. "But if your DEI program is about equity, and it's about race-based decision-making that you're just describing as good discrimination, yes, that's violating the law."
Cuban reportedly did not return FOX Business or FOX News Digital’s request for comment.
FOX Business’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
