US Equal Employment Alternative Fee’s probe seen as newest effort by Trump administration to roll again range and inclusion insurance policies.
Revealed On 5 Feb 2026
Nike is being investigated in the US over claims that it discriminated towards white staff by means of its range and inclusion insurance policies.
The US Equal Employment Alternative Fee (EEOC) mentioned on Wednesday that it had filed a courtroom movement to compel Nike to supply data associated to allegations of “intentional race discrimination” towards white workers.
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The allegations relate to a suspected sample of discrimination in “hiring, promotion, demotion, or separation choices, together with choice for layoffs; internship packages; and mentoring, management growth and different profession growth packages”, the US authorities company mentioned.
The company mentioned it took the motion after Nike had failed to reply to a subpoena for varied data, together with the standards utilized in deciding on workers for redundancies and setting executives’ pay.
EEOC chair, Andrea Lucas, an ardent critic of racial range initiatives who was appointed final 12 months by President Donald Trump, mentioned US anti-discrimination legislation is “colour-blind” and protects workers of “all races”.
“Because of President Trump’s dedication to imposing our nation’s civil rights legal guidelines, the EEOC has renewed its concentrate on even-handed enforcement of Title VII,” Lucas mentioned in an announcement, referring to a bit of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits employment discrimination primarily based on race, color, faith or intercourse.
Nike, primarily based in Beaverton, Oregon, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The EEOC’s motion is seen as the newest transfer by the Trump administration to roll again insurance policies selling range, fairness and inclusion (DEI) within the office.
In one in all his first acts upon returning to the White Home, Trump signed an government order to abolish “radical” and “wasteful” DEI initiatives launched underneath his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Like many company giants within the US, Nike publicly backed social justice causes comparable to Black Lives Matter previous to Trump’s re-election in 2024.
Between 2020 and 2021, Nike’s share of non-white workers rose greater than 4 share factors, essentially the most amongst companies aside from healthcare supplier Danaher, based on a Bloomberg evaluation of firm knowledge reported to the EEOC.
