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Republican Labor Dept Attacks Microsoft For Its Goal To Double Black Leaders in Company
Private company: "We are going to work hard to encourage more diversity."
Republican government: "We think you are harming the majority white people and we will use big government to attack you."
Microsoft in June said it plans to increase the number of Black and African-American leaders within the company by devoting an additional $150 million to diversity and inclusion efforts.
Microsoft also said it would double the number of Black- and African-American-owned suppliers the company works with over the next three years, and plans to spend $500 million with those suppliers.
Silicon Valley management suites and boardrooms have long been overwhelmingly white. Microsoft is one of many tech firms seeking to correct racial disparities by making diversity pledges. Apple and Intel have set similar targets for diversifying their workforces.
The Republican-run Department of Labor responds by starting an investigation for discriminating against white people.
Microsoft on Tuesday [October 6, 2020] said it was contacted last week by the Department of Labor about whether its plan to double the number of Black managers, senior leaders, and individual employees in the US by 2025 violates employment laws against discrimination laid out in the Civil Rights Act.
Microsoft said the agency's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs sent the company a letter last week stating the goals appear to "imply that employment action may be taken on the basis of race" and asked Microsoft to prove otherwise.
"We have every confidence that Microsoft's diversity initiative complies fully with all US employment laws," Microsoft said....
In case there is any confusion about what Trump and Republicans are all about.....
The Labor Department move comes as the Trump administration is also trying to use an executive order to block government contractors from offering certain types of diversity training.
The Labor Department inquiries align with a broader, decades-spanning conservative project to push back on diversity programs, affirmative action and other efforts that are aimed at reversing or blunting the effects of systemic racism.
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