by Katelynn Richardson
A conservative legal group filed a federal civil rights complaint against Macy’s ahead of the Thanksgiving Day parade, claiming the company is “intentionally and systematically” hiring based on race and sex.
America First Legal writes in its complaint filed Tuesday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that Macy’s employment practices, which include “explicit racial and other quotas,” likely violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. AFL cites company documents, such as a 2019 press release on Macy’s five-point plan to advance diversity where management is instructed to “[a]chieve more ethnic diversity by 2025 at senior director level and above, with a goal of 30 percent,” to highlight how the company “has created a significant legal dilemma for itself.”
“Macy’s discriminatory retention, recruitment, hiring, and training programs, based on their own public-facing materials, are not only patently illegal, but are deeply harmful on several levels,” the complaint says. “Discrimination against job applicants or employees based on immutable characteristics such as race, color, national origin, or sex ‘generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.’”
In a 2022 “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Annual Report,” Macy’s included statistics on the makeup of the corporate board based on sex and “Non-White” membership ratio, the complaint notes.
“DE&I [diversity, equity and inclusion] has become embedded into how we think, act and operate across each of our nameplates and every part of our organization,” the report explains.
AFL also sent a letter to Macy’s Board of Directors telling them the company’s employment practices breach fiduciary duty through their “institutional disregard for and violations of federal civil rights laws.”
“Macy’s has, sadly, joined a long list of storied American companies that now prioritize racism over rights,” John A. Zadrozny, America First Legal Deputy Director of Oversight and Investigations, said in a statement. “Macy’s own public-facing materials all but acknowledge that they are engaging in personnel practices that violate federal law.
Zadrozny said Macy’s “is now going to have to explain to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission why they have chosen to become a civil rights violator.”
“It is our hope that Macy’s takes this opportunity to correct its unlawful and egregious conduct as soon as possible,” he continued.
Macy’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Katelynn Richardson is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” by Anthony Quintano. CC BY 2.0.
