Texas Roadhouse thought they were being transparent about their hiring practices.
They had no idea they were handing their opponents a smoking gun.
And America First Legal caught Texas Roadhouse using their own report against them and it left the restaurant chain completely exposed.
Conservative legal group files civil rights complaint using company’s own words
America First Legal just pulled off one of the smartest legal maneuvers we’ve seen in the ongoing war against corporate DEI discrimination.
The conservative legal powerhouse filed a civil rights complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that could leave Texas Roadhouse facing serious federal violations.
But here’s the brilliant part – they used Texas Roadhouse’s own sustainability report and SEC filings to build their case.
The restaurant chain essentially confessed to illegal hiring practices in their own public documents.
"The evidence demonstrates that the Company’s hiring, promotion, and recruitment practices violate state and federal law," the AFL complaint stated.¹
Texas Roadhouse wrote in their 2024 sustainability report that the company is committed to "attracting, retaining, engaging, recognizing, and developing a workforce that mirrors the diversity of our guests."²
That sounds innocuous enough until you dig into what that actually means in practice.
The company’s own 2024 10-K annual report included a detailed chart breaking down the exact percentages of employees and managers by race and gender.
That’s textbook evidence of illegal discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Texas Roadhouse’s DEI policies create massive legal liability
The AFL complaint reveals just how deep Texas Roadhouse’s DEI obsession runs throughout their organization.
According to their own sustainability report, the company openly admits to using "DEI factors such as gender and race" when selecting nominees for their Board of Directors.³
They’re not even trying to hide it anymore.
The company also runs racially segregated professional development programs, including a "Women’s Leadership Summit" and "African American Leadership Summit."⁴
Try to imagine the legal chaos that would erupt if a company announced a "White Male Leadership Summit."
But somehow when it discriminates against white males, corporate America thinks it’s perfectly legal.
America First Legal Counsel Will Scolinos didn’t mince words about what Texas Roadhouse is really doing.
"Texas Roadhouse’s policies are a relic of an era where DEI contaminated American culture with the false belief that good intentions make discrimination okay," Scolinos told Fox News Digital.⁵
The complaint also alleges that Texas Roadhouse’s DEI policies create "reputational risk" and expose the company to "the threat of potential litigation."⁶
That’s exactly what’s happening right now.
Perfect timing as corporate America abandons DEI
The timing of this legal challenge couldn’t be better for conservatives fighting back against woke discrimination.
President Donald Trump has been systematically dismantling DEI throughout the federal government since taking office.
Trump signed executive orders on his first day back in the Oval Office that banned federal agencies from contracting with companies that engage in DEI policies.⁷
Corporate America is reading the writing on the wall.
Disney, Paramount, and Facebook have all rolled back or completely eliminated their DEI programs in recent months.⁸
But some companies like Costco and Apple are still resisting shareholder pressure to abandon their discriminatory hiring practices.⁹
Texas Roadhouse now finds itself in the crosshairs of a civil rights complaint that uses their own proud admissions of racial discrimination against them.
This is exactly the kind of legal pressure that will force the remaining holdout companies to abandon DEI once and for all.
Cracker Barrel is also facing an AFL civil rights complaint over DEI policies that allegedly create employment benefits restricted to specific racial and gender groups.¹⁰
The strategy is brilliant in its simplicity – let these companies hang themselves with their own public statements about illegal hiring practices.
Texas Roadhouse did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about the civil rights complaint.¹¹
That silence speaks volumes about how legally vulnerable they know they are.
The DEI era is coming to an end, and companies like Texas Roadhouse are about to learn that good intentions don’t make racial discrimination legal.
¹ David Spector, "Texas Roadhouse hit with civil rights complaint alleging DEI discrimination in hiring practices," Fox Business, August 3, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Ibid.
