Activision Blizzard and Kellogg, two companies you would not think had much in common, just joined a growing list of major organizations to face claims that their diversity efforts are essentially illegal discrimination.
And the move is coming from a group founded by former Trump administration officials.
America First Legal urged the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to look into Activision’s alleged use of gender and racial preferences in hiring and internship programs, after launching a similar complaint against Kellogg the prior week.
The group is headed by Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to Trump. Ex-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker are board members.
America First has also filed complaints with the EEOC involving Starbucks, McDonald’s, Morgan Stanley, Anheuser-Busch, and Hershey, among others designated on its site as “woke corporations.”
The complaints come as many experts foresee an uptick in these types of challenges following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down race-conscious college admissions policies.
Rick Rossein, a professor at the City University of New York School of Law, told Reuters that the growing scrutiny underscores the pressures to implement diversity initiatives but dial them back amid conservative backlash.
America First’s complaints cite a slew of hiring, promotion, and contracting programs. It is tough to say whether the EEOC, which is responsible for enforcing federal laws banning workplace discrimination and is made up mostly of Democrats, will take any action.
