Yes, we have laws that require companies cannot discriminate based on race or sex and that if they do they can be liable. DEI is different, it mandates quotas. So if I have 1,000 employees they'll tell me 50% need to be women and 10% need to be this race and 40% that race, etc. There is no way you will meet these quotas and still be hiring people based on a meritocracy.
My wife was applying for a job with the school system. After the interview she tells me she won't get the job. I ask why? She says "because I don't look like anyone there". I just laughed and told her if you didn't look like anyone there then you are guaranteed to get the job (this was during Biden's administration when DEI was at its height). Sure enough, she got the job.
On the other hand my son applied to MIT. He was valedictorian of a Specialized Science HS in NYC. You have to take a test to get admitted to these schools and they represent the top 1% of NYC students. As soon as the interviewer saw him his face dropped. I knew immediately that this meant he would not get accepted. He was the wrong race. However, another girl from his school did get accepted, she was the right race and the right sex.