Dodgers DEI efforts are target of federal civil rights complaint

A legal group co-founded by Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff and architect of the Trump Administration’s harsh immigration policies, filed a federal civil rights complaint against the Dodgers earlier this week, accusing the team of “engaging in unlawful discrimination under the guise of ‘diversity, equity and inclusion.’”

The lawsuit, filed Monday with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by America First Legal, was first reported Wednesday by The Athletic. The Dodgers declined comment about the complaint, which also named their ownership group, Guggenheim Partners and the Dodgers’ professional groups for employees, such as the Black Action Network and Women’s Opportunity Network.

In a press release, America First claimed the Dodgers’ actions violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

The charges come less than two weeks after the team said they declined to allow federal immigration authorities to use Dodger Stadium parking lots as a staging area for immigration raids around Southern California. A day later the Dodgers committed $1 million to assist families impact by the immigration raids.

American First claims the reigning World Series champions, who visited with President Trump at the White House earlier this season, have violated the law by sponsoring programs geared to women and people of color and by “[e]mbedding diversity, equity and inclusion strategies” into every aspect of the organization.

The group also points to the biography of Mark Walter, the majority owner of the Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, in which it calls Walter a “social-justice advocate.”

The Dodgers and Guggenheim Partners are just the latest organizations to find themselves in the crosshairs of American Legal over their diversity efforts. The group has pursued cases against IBM, the world’s largest industrial research organization, and Johnson & Johnson, a multinational pharmaceutical company, among others.

America First’s complaint focused heavily on a page on the Dodgers website that defines the team’s mission “to create a culture where diverse voices and experiences are valued.” The site outlines efforts to recruit women and people of color, partner with community groups to support racial and social justice and promote heritage events for staff and fans.

“The DEI mission statement indicates that the Dodgers are incorporating DEI into its workplace in quantifiable ways with identifiable goals to achieve ‘success,’ which appears to entail engaging in unlawful discriminatory hiring, training, and recruitment,” America First stated in its complaint.

Jared Rivera of Pico California, one of the groups that have called on the Dodgers to do more for immigrants, told the The Athletic the complaint amounts to retaliation.

“Stephen Miller’s group is dressing up vengeance as legal action,” he said. “Retaliating against the Dodgers for their compassion shows Miller is threatened when the team and its fans stand up for what is moral and right.”