Companies striving to enact diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs are coming under scrutiny, as practices are discovered that could potentially incite lawsuits. Law firms have found that some corporate efforts have inadvertently taken the form of discriminatory preference for certain groups, such as racial quotas and ill-equipped hiring managers who misinterpret ‘diversity’ as means to not hire white males. Such negligence could arguably provide ammunition to conservative activists looking to nullify successful diversity efforts in corporate America, mirroring their triumph in dismantling affirmative action within higher education. “I thought, ‘Holy cow, where was their in-house counsel on this? Where was their outside counsel?'” Shawe Rosenthal lawyer Fiona Ong, reflecting on a particularly striking case.
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