Macy’s Inc., a large American retailer, has recently come under investigation by America First Legal (AFL), a conservative legal group led by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller. The group has asked the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate Macy’s for what it claims to be “patently illegal” diversity quotas.
This is not AFL’s first rodeo, having sent nearly two dozen inquiries on various companies to the EEOC. They argue that these companies’ diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race discrimination. The targeted employers include NASCAR, Major League Baseball, Morgan Stanley, McDonald’s Corp., and Starbucks Corp.
The controversy revolves around a five-point diversity plan which Macy’s released in 2019, indicating intentions to achieve more ethnic diversity by 2025 at senior director level and above, with a goal of 30 percent. The plan also pledges to create a year-long program to “strengthen leadership skills for a selected group of top-talent managers and directors of Black/African-American, Hispanic-Latinx, Native American and Asian descent”. AFL contends this constitutes illegal hiring quotas.
In a letter sent to EEOC commissioners, AFL’s representatives urged the use of discretionary powers to file a “commissioner charge” against Macy’s, a move not reliant on employees or applicants submitting a discrimination charge to the agency. AFL also sent a letter to Macy’s board of directors and chairman, asserting their diversity efforts constitute a “waste of company assets, institutional disregard for and violations of federal civil rights laws, and breaches of fiduciary duty”.
This development follows the recent US Supreme Court decision that curtailed race-conscious admissions policies in higher education. Though “commissioner charges” remain comparatively rare, with 29 filed in fiscal year 2022, up from three in 2021, AFL’s actions may signal an uptick in filings against corporate diversity efforts in the future.