SHRM faces discrimination lawsuit from former employee and criticism from some HR professionals

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), an organization known to practically every HR leader, appears to have some of its own potential HR—let alone PR—challenges.

On July 1, HR Dive reported that a former employee filed a lawsuit against SHRM on June 30, “alleging discrimination and retaliation, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” A “brown-skinned Egyptian Arab woman” who began working for SHRM in 2016 alleges, according to the lawsuit, that her supervisor “systematically favored” white colleagues and that she was “retaliated” against after she complained.

In 2020, Insider spoke with a dozen former SHRM employees who described working in an environment of “fear.” Another report from Insider noted that SHRM had received some criticism from HR leaders for not publicly taking a “firm stance against racism and inequality,” and some former members Insider talked to cited its response to Covid and an unhealthy work environment. In the age of HR influencers, well, you know where this might be headed...

In February, for example, Keirsten Greggs, the founder of TRAP Recruiter, questioned on Twitter why the HR organization, in a tweet celebrating Black History Month, would use a graphic where no Black people are visible.

#FixItSHRM, the hashtag Greggs used, has been active since at least 2019.

Started in 1948 as the American Society for Personnel Administration (ASPA) to advance the personnel profession, SHRM has practically become synonymous with HR and says it is the world’s largest membership-based HR organization, employing 504 people at the end of 2019.

SHRM provides training for HR professionals, holds various conferences, has a lobbying arm, and updates its more than 300,000 paying members with news and analysis about the profession.

Lead by example? SHRM’s tagline, “Better workplaces. Better world,” and its corporate vision to “build a world of work that works for all” may seem at odds with the fearful environment some former employees described to Insider in 2020.

SHRM’s communications team did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

In a statement to Insider at the time, a SHRM spokesperson said that “given the urgent need for change, employees were assessed, and it was determined that some did not perform at the expected level. It is understandable that an employee may be in ‘fear’ of losing their job if they recognized or sensed a performance gap and would be potentially at risk.”

The bottom line. According to ProPublica’s tax filing tool, SHRM lost $20 million in its most available filing (FY 2020), with revenue at $114 million and functional expenses at $134 million. This was a $25 million swing from the previous year, when it generated $5 million in profit, with $154 million in revenue and $149 million in expenses.

While SHRM CEO Johnny C Taylor may be navigating economic headwinds over the last few years, he reportedly disappointed some HR leaders members with his “close relationship” with then-President Trump and a partnership with the Trump administration on a 2018 workforce-training campaign. SHRM has also faced another discrimination lawsuit over accessibility and recently sparked a backlash against what critics called a “negative stereotype” of women in their merch. Some recent controversies include:

• 2019: SHRM received criticism on Twitter for partnering with the Charles Koch Institute on a campaign to encourage the hiring of formerly incarcerated people. While the goal of the campaign was overall viewed positively, some members pointed out problems being associated with Koch because of the Koch brothers’ ties to conservative agendas, including to the climate crisis.
• 2020: A group of HR professionals started a Change.org petition to encourage SHRM to speak out about LGBTQ+ rights and Black Lives Matter after the murder of George Floyd. When SHRM finally did release a statement, critics said it was too neutral on racial justice.
• 2021: SHRM chose former Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson to keynote its 2021 conference, and former President George W. Bush to headline this year’s, disappointing some observers.
• 2022: SHRM settled a class-action lawsuit after three “deaf HR professionals” sued the organization alleging that its professional development programs were not adequately accessible to disabled people who need captioning or sign-language interpreters.

Reminder: Even HR experts may have HR issues to grapple with.—KP

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email parisi@morningbrew.com or DM @Kris10Parisi on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Kristen for her number on Signal.