EEOC Drops Subpoena Fight With Nike in DEI Investigation
The agency told a Missouri federal court that Nike had turned over documents in an investigation into claims its diversity programs discriminated against white employees, leaving "no remaining controversy."
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is dropping its subpoena enforcement action against Nike, telling a federal court that the sportswear company has complied with requests for information in an investigation into its diversity and inclusion policies.
The agency filed its motion to dismiss in Missouri federal court on Wednesday, seven months after it asked the court to order Nike to fully comply with the subpoena. In the filing, the EEOC said that between March and August, Nike had provided "information and documents responsive to the subpoena," leaving "no remaining controversy" for the court to resolve.
An EEOC spokesperson said the agency is "pleased the company complied without a court order after the filing of our subpoena enforcement action," but declined to provide more details. Nike declined to comment. It was unclear whether Nike had provided everything the agency demanded.
Nike is among the highest-profile companies targeted by EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas' campaign against corporate diversity and inclusion policies, which the Trump administration says discriminate against white men and others. The agency has also sued The New York Times, alleging the news organization discriminated against a white editor who was rejected for a role that went to a multiracial woman. In December, Lucas posted a social media call-out urging white men to file complaints if they had experienced discrimination based on race or sex.
The Nike investigation did not begin with a worker's charge. Lucas filed the complaint herself in May 2024, alleging the company was discriminating against white employees. Her charge cited Nike's publicly shared information about mentorship and other diversity programs, data showing it had increased the number of minorities in its leadership ranks, and its stated goal of reaching 35% representation of racial and ethnic minorities in its corporate workforce by 2025.
According to court documents, the EEOC sought years of data on Nike's employment decisions, including its criteria for selecting employees for layoffs, how it tracks and uses worker race and ethnicity data, and information about programs that allegedly offered race-restricted mentoring, leadership or career development opportunities.
In February, Nike called the court action a "surprising and unusual escalation," saying it had handed over thousands of pages and was sharing more. The company called many of the requests overly broad and burdensome, amounting to a "fishing expedition" in the "idle hope that evidence of wrongdoing might be uncovered."
The case offered a rare glimpse into an EEOC investigation, a process that normally remains confidential unless it results in fines, settlements or legal action.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
