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 america over claims that it discriminated towards white staff by way of its range and inclusion insurance policies.
The US Equal Employment Alternative Fee (EEOC) mentioned on Wednesday that it had filed a court docket movement to compel Nike to provide data associated to allegations of “intentional race discrimination” towards white staff.
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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 applications; and mentoring, management growth and different profession growth applications”, the US authorities company mentioned.
The company mentioned it took the motion after Nike had failed to answer a subpoena for varied data, together with the factors utilized in deciding on staff for redundancies and setting executives’ pay.
EEOC chair, Andrea Lucas, an ardent critic of racial range initiatives who was appointed final yr by President Donald Trump, mentioned US anti-discrimination regulation is “colour-blind” and protects staff of “all races”.
“Because of President Trump’s dedication to imposing our nation’s civil rights legal guidelines, the EEOC has renewed its give attention to even-handed enforcement of Title VII,” Lucas mentioned in an announcement, referring to a piece of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits employment discrimination based mostly on race, color, faith or intercourse.
Nike, based mostly 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 certainly one of his first acts upon returning to the White Home, Trump signed an government order to abolish “radical” and “wasteful” DEI initiatives launched below his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Like many company giants within the US, Nike publicly backed social justice causes similar to Black Lives Matter previous to Trump’s re-election in 2024.
Between 2020 and 2021, Nike’s share of non-white staff rose greater than 4 proportion factors, probably the most amongst corporations aside from healthcare supplier Danaher, in accordance with a Bloomberg evaluation of firm information reported to the EEOC.
