Nike faces probe over claims of DEI-related discrimination against white workers

The US federal agency for protecting workers’ civil rights is investigating sportswear giant Nike for allegedly discriminating against white employees through its diversity policies.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disclosed the investigation in a motion filed in a Missouri federal court demanding that Nike fully comply with a subpoena for information.

The commission sought the company’s criteria for selecting employees for lay-offs, how it tracks and uses worker race and ethnicity data, and information about programs that allegedly provided race-restricted mentoring, leadership, or career development opportunities, according to court documents.

In a statement, Nike said it has co-operated with the commission and that the subpoena “feels like a surprising and unusual escalation”.

“We have shared thousands of pages of information and detailed written responses to the EEOC’s inquiry and are in the process of providing additional information,” Nike said in a statement sent to the Associated Press.

Commission chair Andrea Lucas has moved swiftly to target diversity and inclusion policies that she has long criticised as potentially discriminatory, tightly aligning the agency with one of President Donald Trump’s top priorities.

Nike appears to be the highest-profile company the commission has targeted with a publicly confirmed, formal anti-DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) investigation. In November, the commission issued a similar subpoena against financial services provider Northwestern Mutual.

“When there are compelling indications, including corporate admissions in extensive public materials, that an employer’s diversity, equity and inclusion-related programs may violate federal prohibitions against race discrimination or other forms of unlawful discrimination, the EEOC will take all necessary steps – including subpoena actions – to ensure the opportunity to fully and comprehensively investigate,” Lucas said in a statement.

The disclosure comes two months after Lucas posted a social media callout urging white men to come forward if they have experienced race or sex discrimination at work. The post urged eligible workers to reach out to the agency “as soon as possible” and referred users to the agency’s fact sheet on DEI-related discrimination.

The investigation against Nike, however, does not stem from any worker complaint against the company.

Rather, Lucas filed her own complaint in May 2024 through a more rarely used tool known as a commissioner’s charge, according to the court documents. Her charge came just months after America First Legal, a conservative legal group founded by top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, sent the commission a letter outlining complaints against Nike and urging the agency to file a commissioner’s charge.

America First Legal has flooded the commission with similar letters in recent years, urging investigations into the DEI practices of major US companies. It is unclear how many other companies the commission may be targeting through such commissioner’s charges. It is prohibited from revealing any charge – by workers or commissioners – unless it results in fines, settlements, legal action or other such public actions.

Lucas’ charge, according to court filings, was based on Nike’s publicly shared information about its commitment to diversity, including statements from executives and proxy statements. The charge, for example, cited Nike’s publicly stated goal in 2021 of achieving 35 per cent representation of racial and ethnic minorities in its corporate workforce by 2025.

Race-based hiring prohibited

Many American companies made similar commitments in the wake of the widespread 2020 racial justice protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man. Companies have said these commitments are not quotas but goals they aim to achieve through measures such as expanding recruitment efforts and rooting out bias in the hiring process.

Under the Civil Rights Act, employers are prohibited from using race as a criterion for hiring or other employment decisions. Lucas has long warned that many companies risk crossing that line through DEI efforts that would pressure managers to make race-based decisions.

In its statement, Nike said it follows “all applicable laws, including those that prohibit discrimination. We believe our programs and practices are consistent with those obligations and take these matters seriously”.