Missouri Sues IBM Alleging Racial, Gender Discrimination over Employment Quotas, Withheld Pay
Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey is pictured outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., March 18, 2024.
Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey is suing tech giant IBM for imposing racial and gender quotas on employees and job applicants, as well as tying executives’ compensation to their participation in discriminatory practices.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleges IBM has violated the Missouri Human Rights Act because of its employment quotas and annual “diversity modifier” system. The internal standard requires the corporation to meet certain quotas per year based on race, color, national origin, sex, or ancestry. Bailey, a Republican, says this practice is illegal under state law.
“It is an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to fail or refuse to hire any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his or her compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, national origin, sex, or ancestry,” the 32-page lawsuit states.
In practice, an IBM executive would receive bonus pay if he successfully complied with the diversity quotas. Otherwise, the executive could lose his bonus or job.
IBM’s diversity standards came to light last year after a leaked 2021 video call showed CEO Arvind Krishna admitting to firing employees and taking away a part of bonuses if they chose not to discriminate in the hiring process. Undercover journalist James O’Keefe posted the video, with Krishna’s frank admission, in December.
“I expect at the executive level, so that that is not just my directs, but all executives in the company, have to move forward by 1 percent on both underrepresented minorities,” the chief executive said.
Paul Cormier, who at the time was CEO of IBM’s subsidiary Red Hat, also bragged about the company’s diversity policies. In the video call with Krishna and another colleague, he said multiple people were fired “because they weren’t willing to live up to the standards” and were “held accountable” for their noncompliance.
“We’re going to hold, we are continuing to hold and going to hold even more of our executives accountable for all of this and they will have metrics around this,” Cormier warned in 2021.
Last month, the conservative America First Legal sued Red Hat for implementing anti-white and anti-male quotas. The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of a former longtime employee, who was terminated because he’s a white male.
Bailey’s newly filed litigation cites eight specific violations of Missouri law, including inciting, compelling, or coercing unlawful discriminatory practices; aiding or abetting unlawful discriminatory practices; and limiting, segregating, or classifying employment applicants through its “diversity modifier” standard.
“It has come to my attention that IBM has adopted an unlawful policy that blatantly favors applicants of a certain skin color over others, and that managers within the company who refuse to comply with said policy face adverse action, including and up to, termination. Discrimination in the workplace violates both state and federal law, which is why I am filing this lawsuit,” Bailey said in a statement.
“Missourians deserve answers as to why one of the largest technology and consulting companies in the world, with offices based in Missouri, is discriminating against both prospective and current employees,” he added. “As long as I’m Attorney General, discrimination will be dead on arrival in this state.”
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