Ex-Trump administration officials target corporate diversity efforts

Activision Blizzard

18/08/2023 11:00

By Daniel Wiessner
       Aug 18 (Reuters) - Activision Blizzard Inc  ATVI.O  and
Kellogg Co  K.N  have joined a growing list of major U.S.
companies to face claims from a group founded by former Trump
administration officials that efforts to diversify their
workforces amount to illegal discrimination. 
    America First Legal this week urged the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate
Activision's alleged use of gender and racial preferences in
hiring and internship programs, after lodging a similar
complaint against Kellogg last week.
    America First has filed complaints with the EEOC involving
Starbucks Corp  SBUX.O , McDonald's Corp  MCD.N , Morgan Stanley
 MS.N , Anheuser-Busch Companies LLC  ABIXXB.UL , and Hershey Co
 HSY.N , among other companies designated on its website as
"woke corporations."
    The group is headed by Stephen Miller, who was a senior
adviser to Republican former President Donald Trump known for
his hardline stance on immigration. Ex-Trump chief of staff Mark
Meadows and former Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker
are board members.
    The complaints come as many experts expect an uptick in
challenges to corporate diversity programs following a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling in June that prohibited race-conscious
college admissions policies. 
    The growing scrutiny underscores competing pressures that
companies face to implement diversity initiatives but also to
rein them in amid conservative backlash, according to Rick
Rossein, a professor at the City University of New York School
of Law. Legal complaints like the ones filed by America First
could drive employers to be more cautious, he said.
    “There certainly is a deep psychological effect that is
putting the brakes on the forward movement of diversity in the
workplace,” Rossein said.
    America First's complaints cite a range of hiring, promotion
and contracting programs. They include a Starbucks initiative
designed to boost diversity in senior leadership and McDonald's
policy of evaluating executives based in part on their efforts
to diversify the company's workforce. 
    America First has also filed lawsuits accusing Target Corp
and Progressive Insurance of breaching their duties to
shareholders by adopting diversity programs and progressive
marketing campaigns, for instance celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month.
    Kellogg said in a statement it complies with employment laws
and has anti-discrimination policies in place. Hershey said in a
statement it does not tolerate discrimination and that "we
believe our business is stronger when we are inclusive."
    Activision and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. The other
companies did not respond to requests for comment. 
    It is difficult to say whether the EEOC, which enforces
federal laws banning workplace discrimination and currently has
a Democratic majority, will take up America First's complaints. 
    The agency's investigations are typically triggered by
complaints from workers. But its five commissioners, who are
appointed by the president, can bring their own complaints that
can lead to probes and lawsuits.
    So-called "commissioner's charges" are relatively rare, with
29 filed last year, up from only three in each of the previous
two years. 
    Commissioner Andrea Lucas, a Trump appointee, filed a dozen
charges last year, more than any of her colleagues. Lucas has
said poorly-planned diversity programs can be illegal, and that
the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action should be a
wake-up call to employers that they cannot include race or
gender preferences in workplace policies.
    Lucas declined to comment on whether she is considering
filing charges against any company relating to diversity, equity
and inclusion (DEI) policies. EEOC commissioners are legally
barred from confirming the existence of a specific charge or
investigation. 
    Gene Hamilton, America First's vice president and general
counsel and a former Trump administration lawyer, said in a
statement that it was patently illegal for companies to "obsess"
over the demographics of their workforces. 
    "Major corporations ... apparently do not care as much about
the quality of the products that they make, but the race and sex
of the employees who make their products," he said.

 (Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by
Alexia Garamfalvi and Daniel Wallis)
 ((daniel.wiessner@thomsonreuters.com))