介绍： Nike Is Investigated for Alleged Discrimination Against White Workers
From: The Wall Street Journal
The federal watchdog responsible for fighting workplace discrimination has picked a high-profile target in its efforts to eradicate corporate diversity practices: Nike.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commissi...

介绍： Nike Is Investigated for Alleged Discrimination Against White Workers
From: The Wall Street Journal
The federal watchdog responsible for fighting workplace discrimination has picked a high-profile target in its efforts to eradicate corporate diversity practices: Nike.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday that it had opened an investigation into whether Nike discriminated against white workers in hiring, layoffs and other decisions in its efforts to diversify its workforce. The agency filed a subpoena enforcement action against Nike in a federal Missouri court, adding that it had sought information about its diversity efforts since 2018.
Nike, which denied it had violated antidiscrimination laws, said it was taken aback by the move.
“This feels like a surprising and unusual escalation,” a company spokesperson said, adding that it had been cooperating in good faith with the inquiry. “We have shared thousands of pages of information and detailed written responses to the EEOC's inquiry and are in the process of providing additional information.”
Nike is the biggest company yet to be targeted by the agency for its diversity practices in the second Trump administration. The Republican chair of the EEOC, Andrea Lucas, has enthusiastically supported President Trump's efforts to fight what the White House has called “illegal DEI” programs. Last year, she opened investigations into the diversity programs of 20 law firms.
Lucas recently took to social media to urge white men to report if they felt they had been harmed by corporate efforts to diversify workforces. Many employers bolstered those efforts after a national reckoning about racism sparked by George Floyd's murder in 2020.
The EEOC is investigating whether Nike's diversity, equity and inclusion programs resulted in “a pattern or practice of disparate treatment against white employees.” The EEOC didn't refer to any specific allegations from workers who said they had suffered discrimination because of Nike's DEI programs.
As part of the probe, the EEOC has been seeking information about how Nike selects workers for layoffs and how it tracks workers' race and ethnicity data. The agency is also looking into 16 programs that allegedly provide race-restricted mentoring and career development.
The investigation of Nike had been confidential until Wednesday, when the EEOC disclosed the subpoena.
It is unusual for an agency to disclose a procedural action, said Christopher DeGroff, a labor and employment lawyer who follows the EEOC closely. “That's usually an administrative matter related to a confidential process,” he said. “At the investigative stage, no finding has been made.”
discrimination /dɪˌskrɪmɪˈneɪʃn/ n. 歧视
📗 例句：The law forbids discrimination based on gender.
（法律禁止基于性别的歧视。）
🥝 搭配：racial discrimination 种族歧视
diversity /daɪˈvɜːsəti/ n. 多样性
📗 例句：The forest is known for its great diversity of birds.
（这片森林以其鸟类的巨大多样性而闻名。）
🥝 搭配：cultural diversity 文化多样性
subpoena /səˈpiːnə/ n. 传票
📗 例句：He received a subpoena to appear in court next week.
（他收到了下周出庭的传票。）
🥝 搭配：issue a subpoena 发出传票
confidential /ˌkɒnfɪˈdenʃl/ adj. 保密的
📗 例句：The meeting details are strictly confidential.
（会议详情是严格保密的。）
🥝 搭配：confidential information 机密信息
allegation /ˌæləˈɡeɪʃn/ n. 指控，说法
📗 例句：There was an allegation that he had cheated in the game.
（有说法称他在游戏中作弊了。）
🥝 搭配：make an allegation 提出指控