Dodgers face discrimination lawsuit over hiring and employment practices

Fox News

15 hours ago

EXCLUSIVE: A federal civil rights complaint has been filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the investment firm Guggenheim Partners for allegedly engaging in "unlawful discrimination" under the guise of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI), in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The lawsuit was filed by America First Legal (AFL), the nonprofit conservative public interest organization, against both entities, which are led by Mark Walter, the majority owner of the Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners.
Walter recently became the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers as well in a historic $10 billion agreement with the Buss family.
"Their employment practices, as described below, appear to discriminate against employees, or prospective employees, solely because of their skin color or sex. This is patently unlawful," AFL's complaint, which was provided to Fox News Digital, began.
AFL's complaint claims the Dodgers' and Guggenheim Partners' employment practices are discriminatory because, "even when using inclusive terminology," it is used "to segregate or classify employees or applicants for employment in ways that would deprive, or tend to deprive individuals of employment, training, or promotions because of their race, color, sex, or national origin."
The complaint goes on by pointing out how the Dodgers' DEI website reads that it is "sponsoring programs geared to women and people of color," while also "embedding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategies into every aspect of the organization."
AFL also took issue with the DEI mission statement on the Dodgers' site.
The statement read, "Our mission is to create a culture where diverse voices and experiences are valued, our people feel empowered by their connections to each other, and the Team and all employees feel they can succeed. "
"Our charge is to direct and track impact, establish clear accountabilities, reporting standards, aspirational goals and measurements of success," the AFL said.
The AFL argued that the team is using DEI in "quantifiable ways with identifiable goals to achieve 'success,' which appears to entail engaging in unlawful discriminatory hiring, training and recruitment."
The complaint mentioned the Dodgers allowing employees to join multiple "Business Resource Groups" (BRGs) within the organization, which provides employees "a forum to gather with other employees who hold common interests, identities and/or social issues."
AFL's complaint also took exception to "some of the BRGs appear to provide material employment benefits to employees based on their race, color, sex, or national origin." The complaint mentions the Asian Professionals, Black Action Network, SOMOS La, which "appears to provide Latino employees with employment benefits," and the Women's Opportunity Network.
Furthermore, the complaint requested an investigation into Guggenheim Partners, which also has a "Diversity and Inclusion" page stating that DEI plays a role in recruitment, professional development, contracting and more "throughout the Firm."
"Guggenheim Partners makes it clear that it defines 'diversity' to explicitly include considering 'protected class[es]' including, in part, those based on race, gender, ethnicity, age, religion, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity," the complaint reads.
The complaint points to Guggenheim Partners' commitment to "Broadening Pipeline Diversity," which states its wish to "develop diversity recruiting and talent management strategies to identify, attract, develop, and retain top talent."
"When diversity motivates employment decisions, and "diversity" refers to race, color, sex, and national origin—as it does to Guggenheim Partners—the result is unlawful discrimination," the complaint reads.
Guggenheim Partners, like the Dodgers, also operate Business Development Resource Groups (BDRGs).
"The BDRGs are open to all employees yet provide employment benefits based upon particular immutable characteristics and are intended to further the firm's DEI goals," the complaint reads, highlighting the "Women's Innovation and Inclusion Network" and "Multicultural Employee Business Network" among them.
The AFL suggests the EEOC can investigate application data and internal HR policies or practices of the Dodgers and Guggenheim Partners to "identify whether the policies make explicit reference to employment preferences based on race, color, sex, and national origin in violation of federal law."
The Dodgers and Guggenheim Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed executive orders aimed at rolling back DEI initiatives, with one of them including directives for federal agencies to combat DEI in the private sector. MLB took a step to comply, as they removed "diversity" references from their website in March.
"Our values on diversity remain unchanged," MLB said in a statement at the time. "We are in the process of evaluating our programs for any modifications to eligibility criteria that are needed to ensure our programs are compliant with federal law as they continue forward."
The New York Yankees remained committed to pushing diversity and inclusion within its organization despite the national rollbacks of DEI, saying in April that they are "continually working with the members of our Diversity and Inclusion Committee and are actively engaged with our neighbors and community partners," per the New York Daily News.
"Our dedication towards these efforts remains unchanged, and our Diversity and Inclusion Committee continues to do its work," said senior vice president of corporate and community relations Brian Smith.
In October 2023, the AFL filed a federal civil rights complaint against MLB for racially discriminatory programs, alongside the EEOC. The complaint claimed MLB's official website presented at least four unlawful employment and contracting programs, citing the Diversity Pipeline Program, which commissioner Rob Manfred launched in 2016.
The General Services Administration (GSA) announced changes in February to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) meant to align with the president's executive order aimed at restoring meritocracy and ending discrimination in the public and private sectors.
Following an owners meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, in February, Manfred said MLB would be evaluating the interpretation of federal law.
"Our values, particularly our values on diversity, remain unchanged. But another value that is pretty important to us is we always try to comply with what the law is," Manfred explained. "There seems to be an evolution going on here. We're following that very carefully.
"Obviously, when things get a little more settled, we'll examine each of our programs and make sure that while the values remain the same that we're also consistent with what the law requires."
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