Two recent employment anti-discrimination lawsuits may serve as cautionary reminders for why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives must comply with the letter of the law when it comes to workplace anti-discrimination.
Catch me up? This month, former AT&T Assistant Vice President of Tax Research Joseph DiBenedetto sued his former employer in a US district court in Atlanta, Georgia, for “age, race, and gender discrimination in the workplace.” DiBenedetto alleges he was improperly terminated after 20 years of company service because he lacked the “longevity, skin color, and gender AT&T preferred.”
DiBenedetto claims the company was “increasingly aggressive” in its initiatives for “diversity” and “inclusion,” which he alleges included efforts to make leadership roles like his “less white” and “less male.” His lawsuit cites an email from CFO John Stephens, titled “More work to do in Finance” to help prove his case.
According to the complaint, the email contained updates from CEO John Stankey about the demographics of the company and used bar graphs to break down the workforce's then-makeup in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender to conclude, “[AT&T] must focus more on attracting and retaining diverse employees throughout our organization, especially at our senior levels.” Less than two months after receiving that email, DiBenedetto’s lawsuit claims that he and at least 12 other employees—nine of whom were male, all were white, and all were over fifty years old—were terminated.
Asked about the lawsuit, AT&T spokesperson Jim Kimberly said in a statement, “Reducing our workforce is a difficult decision that we don’t take lightly, and each instance is reviewed thoroughly to ensure there is no discrimination of any kind, including based on age, race, or gender. We dispute the allegations in this lawsuit and will fight them in court.”
In North Carolina last month, a jury awarded $10 million to former hospital executive David Duvall. Duvall, a white male, had sued Novant Health in federal court for wrongful termination on the basis of race and gender in 2018. Duvall’s legal counsel presented statistics demonstrating that the number of white employees at or above the VP level decreased by 5.9% between 2016 and 2019, while the percentage of women and underrepresented minorities increased during that time. His lawyer, S. Luke Largess, said in an emailed statement to HR Brew that Duvall’s termination was done “solely to make room for more diverse leaders at Novant Health.”
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In a statement, Novant Health spokesperson Megan Rivers said, “We are extremely disappointed with the verdict, as we believe it is not supported by the evidence presented at trial, which includes our reason for Mr. Duvall’s termination. We will pursue all legal options, including appeal, over the next several weeks and months.”
The statement concluded, “It’s important for all current and future team members to know that this verdict will not change Novant Health’s steadfast commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity for all.”
Zoom Out: Employees, consumers, and shareholders continue to demand HR create robust DE&I initiatives, including hiring and retaining diverse talent. According to data from Jobvite’s 2021 Recruiter Nation Report, 61% of US–based recruiters surveyed say their organizations are putting more emphasis on diversity hiring in 2021 than they did in 2020.
Largess’s statement to HR Brew emphasized that Duvall’s victory wasn’t about condemning DE&I programs, but ensuring that the pursuit of DE&I doesn’t contribute to workplace discrimination for other employees. Federal anti-discrimination laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, are designed to prohibit discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics, such as race, color, sex, age, or national origin. That means they apply to white men, too.
“The lawful way to implement D&I is through attrition and expansion, not through firing people to fill their positions with more diverse candidates,” Largess explained via email. “I think everyone recognizes that is wrong. Novant denied they had done that to Duvall, the jury found they had done just that.”—SV
Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Contact Susanna Vogel via the encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram (@SusannaVogel) or simply email [email protected].