IBM CEO reportedly wants black representation in the company to reach 13 percent, Hispanic to mid-teens, and female representation to over 50 percent.
The advocacy group America First Legal (AFL) filed a complaint against IBM with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging that the company engages in racial discrimination in employment against Asians in favor of black and Hispanic people.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits companies from engaging in discrimination against an employee or an applicant for employment based on their race, religion, color, national origin, or sex. “However, the evidence is that IBM is knowingly, intentionally, and systematically engaging in such unlawful employment practices,” the Dec. 12 AFL letter to the EEOC said.
“On Dec. 11, 2023, a tape of IBM Chief Executive Officer and Board Chairman Arvind Krishna was released on X. In the video, Krishna promises to fire, demote, or deny bonuses to corporate executives who either fail to meet the corporation’s racial and national origin hiring quotas or who hire too many Asian individuals,” the letter said.
In addition, “Paul Cormier, the chairman of IBM subsidiary Red Hat, admits employees who failed to meet or comply with the corporation’s unlawful racial and national origin quotas were terminated.”
The letter noted that IBM’s 2022 environmental, social, governance (ESG) report details an annual incentive program for executives based on boosting representation of women and American minority groups, “specifically black and Hispanic,” in executive positions.
It cited a 1954 judgment on Brown vs. Board of Education to point out that discriminating against people on the basis of race, national origin, color, 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 to ever be undone.”
Citing another judgment, the letter called IBM’s employment practices as “odious and destructive” as they could foment contention and resentment among people.
AFL argued that the EEOC should take action against IBM since the company has “knowingly and intentionally violated federal law and intends to continue doing so.”
The legal advocacy pointed to IBM’s 2023 Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement which included a “diversity modifier” when calculating incentive compensation in 2022.
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