The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has opened an investigation into Nike, alleging the company’s diversity policies discriminated against white employees. The EEOC disclosed the probe in a motion filed in federal court in Missouri seeking enforcement of a subpoena that demands documents and information from the sportswear company.
Court filings show the EEOC wants Nike’s criteria for selecting employees for layoffs, how the company collects and uses race and ethnicity data, and details about programs alleged to have limited mentoring, leadership or career-development opportunities by race. Nike said it has cooperated with the EEOC, provided “thousands of pages” of documents and written responses, and is supplying additional information. The company called the subpoena “a surprising and unusual escalation.”
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas has prioritized scrutinizing corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives she argues could unlawfully rely on race. The agency’s action against Nike is the most prominent publicly confirmed anti-DEI investigation so far; the EEOC previously subpoenaed Northwestern Mutual in November. Lucas said when public materials or other indications suggest DEI programs may violate federal prohibitions on race-based discrimination, the EEOC will pursue full investigations, including subpoenas.
Unlike most EEOC investigations, this one did not begin with an employee charge. Lucas filed a commissioner’s charge in May 2024 — a less commonly used tool — after America First Legal, a conservative group founded by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, sent the agency a letter urging inquiry into Nike’s practices. America First Legal has made similar complaints to the EEOC about other companies’ DEI efforts. The EEOC generally does not disclose charges unless they lead to public enforcement actions, settlements or litigation.
Lucas has also used social media to encourage white men who believe they experienced race- or sex-based workplace discrimination to contact the agency, and she referenced the EEOC’s fact sheet on DEI-related discrimination. The commissioner’s charge against Nike cites the company’s public commitments to diversity, including a 2021 goal to reach 35% racial and ethnic minority representation in its corporate workforce by 2025.
Many companies set similar representation goals after the 2020 racial justice protests; firms say such targets are recruitment and retention objectives, not quotas, and can be pursued by widening candidate pools and reducing bias. Legal limits remain clear: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act forbids using race as a factor in hiring or employment decisions. Lucas has warned that some DEI programs risk pressuring managers into race-based decisions that could violate that law.
Nike reiterated that it follows all applicable anti-discrimination laws, believes its programs comply with legal obligations and takes the matter seriously.