Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/18/coca-cola-equal-employment-sued

I wasn't initially going to bother posting this, but the more I thought about it, the only thing that came to mind is "who gets pissed over missing out on a corporate team-building retreat?" Seems the men drew the longer straw.

A US civil rights agency has sued a bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products it accuses of sex discrimination over an employee networking event that excluded men, its first lawsuit over workplace diversity programs since Donald Trump took office. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, says Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast violated federal law when it hosted the event for about 250 female employees at a casino in Connecticut in September 2024.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is owned by Kirin Holdings, a Japanese company. Coca-Cola is not a defendant in the case.

The case in New Hampshire federal court is an early test of claims by Trump administration officials, including the EEOC chair Andrea Lucas, that many common workplace diversity, equity and inclusion programs amount to unlawful “reverse discrimination”. Trump has moved aggressively to eradicate DEI from the federal government, the private sector and higher education, saying it is discriminatory and erodes merit-based decision-making.