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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit against Starbucks this week, alleging the it enforces race-and-sex-based hiring practices, unlawfully segregates employees, and provides exclusive training and employment benefits to select groups.
“As attorney general, I have a responsibility to protect Missourians from a company that actively engages in systemic race and sex discrimination,” Bailey said. “Racism has no place in Missouri. We’re filing suit to halt this blatant violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act in its tracks.”
Recent investigations into corporate DEI policies have shown that many major companies are reevaluating their diversity initiatives in light of legal challenges. Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law prohibits discrimination based on race. This principle applies not only to college admissions but also to employment decisions. Starbucks has blatantly violated the law by linking its compensation to racial and gender quotas, the suit alleges. Additionally, the company discriminates based on race and gender when it comes to board membership.
“With Starbucks’ discriminatory patterns, practices and policies, Missouri’s consumers are required to pay higher prices and wait longer for goods and services that could be provided for less had Starbucks employed the most qualified workers, regardless of their race, color, sex or national origin,” according to the lawsuit filed in federal court.
This is not the first time the attorney general has filed suit to hold big corporations accountable. Last June, Bailey filed suit against IBM for violating the Missouri Human Rights Act. Like Starbucks, IBM enforced hiring quotas based on race, among other acts of discrimination. The IBM litigation continues to play out in court. In his lawsuit against Starbucks, Attorney General Bailey is seeking an order compelling Starbucks to immediately cease its discriminatory patterns and practices.
Like many large corporations, Starbucks embraced DEI in the wake of the Black Lives Matter riots and racial reckoning of 2020, championing itself as a bastion of American progressivism. The outgrowth of DEI across American institutions soon drew legal and political opposition from conservatives who believe the programs divide people based on race and focus on demographics instead of merit by obsessively focusing on immutable characteristics.
Recent legal challenges to DEI policies have reshaped corporate America’s approach to diversity initiatives. The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that race-based college admissions criteria violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, a decision that reshaped the legal landscape surrounding DEI and inspired a flurry of lawsuits from conservative organizations. President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders targeting DEI inside the federal government and American institutions.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
Image: Marco Paköeningrat | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
