America First Legal Files Federal Civil Rights Complaint Against Salesforce for Race and Sex-Based Discrimination

Today, America First Legal’s (AFL) Center for Legal Equality filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Salesforce, Inc., for engaging in unlawful race and sex based discrimination. AFL also sent a letter to Salesforce’s Board of Directors demanding that the Company’s management stop violating its fiduciary duty to shareholders.

Salesforce openly admits to racial, sexual, and gender discrimination in its recruitment and hiring programs. Since at least 2019, Salesforce has engaged in discriminatory hiring and promotion processes using a “Racial Equity and Justice Taskforce.”

Moreover, in the spring of 2023, Salesforce announced the launch of a new gender-discriminatory hiring program designed to favor candidates identifying as “non-binary” or “female.” {snip}

To enforce these hiring quotas, Salesforce brags that it includes “representation goals as part of our executive compensation programs.” Salesforce even published data showing successful discrimination in its recruitment process with year-over-year increases from 2021 to 2022 in the hiring of “Latinx, Women, and Black” new workers of roughly 21%, 13%, and 5% respectively.

Further, to help Salesforce achieve its desired sex and race “balance,” the company has created “equality groups.” For example, the “BOLDforce” is designed to “expand and empower the Salesforce black community,” while the “Women’s Network,” is designed to “amplif[y] the progress of women in every step of their journey … through professional and personal development.” Tellingly, there are no comparable programs for white or male employees.

For too long, major corporations have openly and proudly violated Title VII and engaged in illegal race and sex-based discrimination; AFL is taking action.

Statement from Nick Barry, America First legal Senior Counsel:

“Corporate executives should not receive additional compensation because they were effective in illegally discriminating against applicants and employees. Salesforce should not be permitted to so flagrantly violate Title VII and the rule of law. Implementing hiring quotas and then encouraging executives to meet these quotas through compensation benefits should not be tolerated. The EEOC must begin regning in these corporate oversteps. Otherwise, the discrimination will become more overt and harmful to all Americans.” said Nick Barry.

Read the EEOC letter here and the Board of Directors letter here.

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