5 Lawsuits Against Corporate DEI Initiatives

America First Legal, a conservative nonprofit organization started by a former Trump Senior Advisor, has been filing lawsuits against major corporations, challenging their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The organization argues that these initiatives are discriminatory and penalize Americans based on race and sex, using federal laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 as the main foundation for their legal challenges. Some of the companies that have been sued by America First Legal include Nordstrom, Target, Kellogg’s, Yum! Brands / Pizza Hut, Twilio, Morgan Stanley, McDonald’s, Lyft, Kontoor Brands, and Meta. Here are the details of a few:

1. Amazon: America First Legal filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Amazon for offering a $10,000 Diversity Grant to its delivery service partners who are Black, Latino, or Native American, as well as going after Amazon’s “Black Business Accelerator” initiative.
2. Meta(Facebook): America First Legal sued Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), and entertainment industry entities for racial discrimination in relation to the group participating in AICP’s Double the Line program, which creates extra positions on set for BIPOC individuals.
3. Nordstrom: America First Legal filed a civil rights complaint against Nordstrom for hiring practices to increase Black and Latinx representation in leadership, internship pipelines, and Black-owned supplier diversity.
4. Progressive: America First Legal filed a class-action lawsuit against Progressive Preferred Insurance Company, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, and Circular Board LLC for their 2023 Driving Small Business Forward grant program offering Black small businesses “$25,000 grant[s] for use toward the purchase of a commercial vehicle for their business.”
5. Unilever (Ben & Jerry’s): America First Legal filed a federal civil rights complaint against Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand. The complaint asks the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate Unilever’s hiring, promotion, and other DEI practices, including the “Next Black Millionaires Fund,” which provided five Black-owned businesses with a grant for $100,000.

As DEI continues to face backlash, it’s important that we advocate for policies and practices that promote racial equity in the workplace. Continue to encourage your employer to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and support efforts to address bias and discrimination in hiring, promotion, and pay practices against historically marginalized groups.