Feds Accuse Nike of Discrimination Against White Workers, EEOC investigation orchestrated by Stephen Miller [View all]

Feds Accuse Nike of Discrimination Against White Workers
The EEOC has opened an investigation into the company


The federal agency for protecting workers' civil rights revealed Wednesday that it is investigating sportswear giant Nike for allegedly discriminating against white employees through its diversity policies, the AP reports. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disclosed the investigation in a motion filed in Missouri federal court demanding that Nike fully comply with a subpoena for information. The EEOC sought the company's criteria for selecting employees for layoffs, how it tracks and uses worker race and ethnicity data, and information about programs which allegedly provided race-restricted mentoring, leadership, or career development opportunities, according to court documents.



In a statement, Nike said the company has worked to cooperate with the EEOC and 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 AP. EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas has moved swiftly to target diversity and inclusion policies that she has long criticized as potentially discriminatory, tightly aligning the agency with one of President Trump's top priorities. Nike appears to be the highest profile company the EEOC has targeted with a publicly confirmed, formal anti-DEI investigation. In November, the EEOC issued a similar subpoena against financial services provider Northwestern Mutual.


The disclosure comes two months after Lucas posted a social media call-out 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 EEOC a letter outlining complaints against Nike and urging the agency to file a commissioner's charge.





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