As company networking events go, it was unremarkable: About 250 female employees of a Coca-Cola distributor gathered inside the ballroom of a Connecticut casino for a day of speakers and team-building exercises, preceded the night before by cocktails and dinner. The theme: “Embrace Your Authenticity.”

The EEOC’s priority has “never been bringing lawsuits on behalf of White males in reverse discrimination situations,” said Gerald Maatman, an employment law expert and partner at the law firm Duane Morris. Instead, the agency operated as the “guardian” of vulnerable workers who wouldn’t be able to pursue such claims on their own.

Maatman says he receives near-daily calls from executives who want to help various groups of people in their company succeed, but also don’t want to get sued. He tells clients that any mentoring or managerial training program must be open to anyone and offer an equal opportunity to participate.

“The advice at this point is, ‘The world has changed,’” Maatman said. [...]

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