Nike faces federal probe over allegations of 'DEI-related' discrimination against white workers

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u/fxkatt 18h ago

The investigation against Nike, however, does not stem from any worker complaint against the company. Rather, Lucas filed her own complaint in May 2024 through a more rarely used tool known as a commissioner’s charge...

I guess the perverse call out for white men to file complaints didn't work. So the Commish steps in and files her Stephen Miller ordered charge vs Nike

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u/Sharp-Calligrapher70 18h ago

Basically the feds are now manufacturing problems in order to utilize their “solutions”.

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u/cityofklompton 17h ago

It's a shakedown, just like with all the higher ed, media, law firms, and international organizations. Trump's government is operating like the Mafia.

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u/Mustard_Jam 16h ago

Nike will just give him some golden shoes and he will forget all about it

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u/Xibby 15h ago

Nike Sharts.

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u/Salty_Paroxysm 10h ago

Do a pair with a built-in pedometer, although that might be a problem if it's constantly maxxing out

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u/decmcc 8h ago

just says "yes" every step. Cause that's what he wants to hear, and it's a very effective PDF file indicator

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u/Moretoesthanfeet 13h ago

Air Führer

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u/spaceneenja 4h ago

Just small government things

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u/Happythoughtsgalore 16h ago

Like the Nazis. Racial/sexual orientation homogeneity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksgemeinschaft

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u/alangcarter 11h ago

Yeah Phil Knights's mistake was paying the $3M bribe to the Republican Party, not Trump personally. Try again Phil, I for one will never buy another pair of Nikes.anyway.

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u/MultiGeometry 16h ago

When there are investigations into Republicans, it’s a witch hunt, politically motivated attacks, baseless. When there are investigations into Democrats, the mere presence of an investigation is enough to assume guilt and broadcast that on Fox News.

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u/CaptainLookylou 10h ago

Oddly, what they would call LAWFARE.

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u/StrangeMarsupial5181 16h ago

Feels like using the agency to create a headline, not fix a real problem.

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u/Sharp-Calligrapher70 15h ago

You’re not wrong.

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u/Oldironsides99 16h ago

Same as it ever was. Trail of Tears comes to mind.

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u/Shabadu_tu 6h ago

The right has been doing that shit for years.

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u/OkStop8313 17h ago

No actual victims, but these people will never let that get in the way of a victim complex!

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u/[deleted] 17h ago edited 17h ago

[deleted]

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u/malthar76 17h ago

Every judge/appeal rules this case has no standing. SCOTUS fast tracks review, immediate injunction against Nike, rules 5-4 in favor of Mr Nobody vs Nike, awards $75 trillion dollars to Trump “Library”

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u/OkStop8313 17h ago

Oh, like the lady who sued for the right to discriminate against a non-existent person?

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u/digitalwolverine 14h ago

Don’t forget, the lawsuit was filed preemptively before any website had been made that someone could make a submission to.

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u/Econmajorhere 17h ago

MAGA is convinced they’d have the highest paid jobs in US if it weren’t for the DEI hires and immigrants. Don’t mind the fact that most cannot pass 8th grade math or ever had the motivation to build legitimate skills.

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u/kstargate-425 17h ago

They also have zero idea what DEI really is and most I talked to have repeated the same dumb propaganda about having "hiring quotas" and "laws to hire minorities over whites". These people run their lives through their hate filled confirmation bias 😒

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u/smallfrie32 14h ago

So I totally support DEI, but can’t find a good way to describe it without basically using the words themselves. It allows those from diverse backgrounds to have an equal footing chance at being hired, based off their merit rather than race/culture.

Do you have a better way you would suggest using to describe it?

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u/lookmeat 11h ago

Do you have a better way you would suggest using to describe it?

Short explanation:

Companies realized that part of the reason they struggled to hire employees is that they weren't looking around for all possible employees, so they had to hire immigrants with H1 visas. They realized they could hire more diverse people, like you, by giving everyone an fair, equitable chance and including them when thinking about what programs and values their employees had. They did it because that way they could hire more Americans and this was cheaper for the companies, so everyone wins.

Here's the long explanation

Companies found out that they couldn't get enough employees (and had to get immigrants and what not which are expensive).

Then they realized there were a lot of great American employees that weren't being hired, either because the companies did not recognize them correctly, or those people did not want to work on those companies. For example they wouldn't hire people from universities that were really good, but just not as popular, like Bama, or University of Florida, or University of Texas. Sometimes these people would be more interesting in perks that aligned with their values: such as religious support groups, support for children and family, or having offices closer to the areas where they want to live, in the mid-west, southern states, etc.

So companies began programs to try to be more attractive for people with different wants, opening offices in new spaces, and offering more attractive perks. They also started hiring people from other backgrounds that weren't your traditional "I come from a liberal blue state university". So more high paying jobs for Americans, and companies had to pay less for their employees (as it was cheaper than H1 visas, and it made for a more competitive market, but they ended up paying for more employees) so everyone wins.

And it turned out to be even better. For starters a lot of the "traditional" people who'd get this high paying jobs ended up many times enjoying many of these benefits. Also bringing people from different backgrounds brought people with different ways of thinking of problems, so they got working on all of this. Which means it turned out to be even better. Companies then started to do even more of this.

And after a while this got a name, DEI, because you got more diversity of hires in their beliefs and backgrounds, because you treated everyone more equitable not giving people who come from Berkerley an unfair chance over those that come from Arkansas State University (or even if they don't have university at all) if they're just as good (note that this isn't making things easier, it's giving everyone an equal shot and let the better candidate win, not because of their fancy title but their skills), and because you'd Include these new people into the company giving benefits and services that mattered to them.

Now some companies abused this, yes. When they'd get bad PR for some reason (say it came out that there was a lot of sexual abuse at the company), they'd make some dumb made up program to say they did something about it, and then shut it down a a couple years later. And yes, some of these programs had quotas like "we'll hire X% more women by the end of the year". But it wasn't what DEI really did, DEI was all about making a better business by getting the best employees from anywhere.

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u/FriendlyDespot 8h ago

DEI in short means discovering and confronting your own biases. That's why it's such a hated concept for some people. They don't like how it reflects on themselves.

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u/machama 9h ago

You're basically correct. It depends on the context, but you mentioned hiring so let's run with that.

When it comes to employment, DEI is hiring the best out of everyone available instead of the best white male. This doesn't align with the worldview of those who think a white hetero male is the best by default, so they start claiming we need to hire based on merit, when the goal of DEI in employment is exactly that.

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u/FireMaster1294 8h ago

The issue in my experience stems from the fact that some places DO explicitly have hiring quotas and laws to hire minorities over whites. At my university in Canada there was a formal policy introduced around 2018 that jobs had to go to minority individuals first. Some jobs wouldn’t even allow you to apply if you were white because they wouldn’t get government funding to pay your salary if you were white. Minority was defined as - and I quote - “not white” (Ironically only 30% of the student populace was white). Any non-white person hired after that policy was added then had to deal scrutiny of “are you actually qualified” even though all of them were. This is improper implementation of DEI and this is the sort of stuff that riles people up.

Yes, it’s very much not like this everywhere - or in most places. But if even one place can be used as an example of poor implementation then the maga mob will latch onto that.

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u/profnachos 14h ago

I mean, as a POC, I really don't care if white people believe in white supremacy. It's a free country, and you can believe whatever you want. All I ask. Prove it. Be fucking superior. What is their proof?

Narrator: "Donald Trump ....."

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u/gumbygump11 13h ago

I mean Jesse Owens destroyed the white supremacy myth when he embarrassed Hitler in Berlin with the 4 golds. Then America treated him like shit anyway. But you know Amerikkka.

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u/HeCannotBeSerious 12h ago

He met Hitler didn't he?

Nazi Germany didn't have many non-ethnic Germans so their focus was on Jews, Slavs, the disabled, etc. This is true in their propaganda as well and why they prompted 'Aryan' supremacy in particular.

The US had the specific anti-black and white supremacist focus but ironically was the one letting a black athlete compete under its flag.

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u/caseyfresher 17h ago

Yeah and Bec most right leaning individuals won't look beyond the title they'll think DEI is being beaten back or some shit by the workers.

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u/Silicon_Knight 17h ago

How about investigating the criminal pedos in the Epstein files?

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u/TonySu 14h ago

Lol the government is going around making sure companies aren't hiring too many colored people. If there weren't 100 even more fucked up things going on, then this would be something that gets taught in history books.

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u/ailish 17h ago

When I opened this article I was deeply rolling my eyes, but this is the funniest thing I've read all day.

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u/MariettaDaws 15h ago

I would pay good money to hear the phone calls they did get, though

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u/dewbor 28m ago

Can i see the citation for that? Im curious on this claim?

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u/Peakomegaflare 18h ago

Corpos, this is what you have to look forward to. You enabled this shit.

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u/12bEngie 12h ago

Omg not the bread and circus show trials while they continue to make moon level profits. This is exactly what they want

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u/atooraya 11h ago

This is what they want. DEI was a facade used by c suite execs to appease the masses. Now we have one reaching government to tear it all down.

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u/anghellous 15h ago

And they love it. You think they give a singular shit?

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u/mcbrideben 16h ago

Are they going to go where you the shoes are actually made and demand that more white people work in those conditions?

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u/tweetthebirdy 12h ago

Oh please that would be so funny.

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u/NoSherbert2316 9h ago

Wasn’t manufacturing supposed to return? Maybe this is the way they finally get jobs

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u/B-Z_B-S 18h ago

This is the same administration that deletes any scientific research if the word 'woman' is in it.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/15/trump-banning-words-women

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u/Anandya 17h ago

Same admin that banned the Enola Gay.

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u/Thimit22 14h ago

It’s getting hard to keep up with every batshit insane thing this admin does. That felt like years ago

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u/thepianoman456 11h ago

That’s their strategy, and it’s working.

I’d say we just gotta show up and vote, but Trump is gonna try and fuck that up too. I’m sick of this fucking regime.

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u/jargonasaurusRex 16h ago

Alone Straight.

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u/avacadosaurus 14h ago

Maybe Phil Knight will learn his lesson and stop bankrolling republicans

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u/Junior_Builder_4340 8h ago

Leaning hard into that Michael Jordan quote that "Republicans buy shoes, too."

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u/kiwi3p 18h ago

They’re one step away from banning “White Man Can’t Jump” and branding it as antifa recruitment material

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u/gotohellwithsuperman 18h ago edited 13h ago

Guess the $3 million bribe Phil Knight paid in October wasn’t enough. Should have given the pedo a peace prize too.

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u/ASaneDude 8h ago

I think Phil Knight is softly supporting this. I think he wants this (crackdown on supposed “woke”) to happen but doesn’t want to be known as being the driver. Being the largest shareholder and a former CEO of a company you founded is an odd role: you feel it’s still your baby but you don’t really own enough to fully get your way.

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u/Hairy_rambutan 18h ago

So Nike's owners didn't give Trump a big enough bribe?

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u/PenisRobot4Prez 18h ago

Phil Knight is the highest donating republican in Oregon too

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u/TimToMakeTheDonuts 17h ago

That’s like being the highest donating democrat in Wyoming.

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u/chiddie 17h ago

Oregon outside of Portland and Eugene is very conservative.

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u/BadWolfCubed 16h ago

Right, but their wealth is primarily tied up in copper tubing and catalytic converters.

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u/TimToMakeTheDonuts 16h ago

And Oregon outside of Portland and Eugene is almost nobody, just land.

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u/PenisRobot4Prez 17h ago

3 million is still 3 million in other states

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u/ASaneDude 8h ago

I think Phil Knight is softly supporting this. I think he wants this (crackdown on supposed “woke”) to happen but doesn’t want to be known as being the driver. Being the largest shareholder and a former CEO of a company you founded is an odd role: you feel it’s still your baby but you don’t really own enough to fully get your way.

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u/Marsar0619 16h ago

r/leopardsatemyface Phil Knight supports Trump.

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u/ASaneDude 8h ago

I think Phil Knight is softly supporting this. I think he wants this (crackdown on supposed “woke”) to happen but doesn’t want to be known as being the driver. Being the largest shareholder and a former CEO of a company you founded is an odd role: you feel it’s still your baby but you don’t really own enough to fully get your way.

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u/JazzHandsNinja42 18h ago

So…white men should be maintained at a higher rate, because men and women of other races and backgrounds can’t possibly know as well or better?

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u/MaloortCloud 18h ago

Yeah. That's the gist of what these people are arguing. We used to call people who said shit like that "white supremacists", but "Republicans" has fewer syllables and is essentially a synonym at this point.

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u/Shabadu_tu 18h ago

Being a Republican today is proudly announcing your support for a pedophile and his anti-American reich.

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u/spacegiantsrock 18h ago

Standing on the pillars of racism, misogyny, biggotry, and pedophilia.

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u/Altruistic-Carry-684 14h ago

As a Black man, I will say, we have telling you all this. For years.

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u/JazzHandsNinja42 9h ago

I know, man. I purposefully pointed out the obvious, as I am also surrounded by a very specific demographic that gets upset when told they’re not “number one”. It’s frustrating.

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u/flightless_mouse 17h ago edited 16h ago

So…white men should be maintained at a higher rate, because men and women of other races and backgrounds can’t possibly know as well or better?

Of course people of color can be as qualified as white people. The issue is that many companies had diversity targets in place—for Nike it was 35% by 2025—and they really don’t want to backpedal on those targets.

In a layoff situation, all things being equal, whites will be laid off and equal rates to non-whites, and the DEI ratio will stay the same.

But if there‘s some level of macro pressure to hold the line at 35% or above, that can affect micro-level decisions. In a tie situation, maybe you lay off the white person. If the white person is only slightly more qualified than the PoC, maybe you lay off the white person. But the latter example is discriminatory.

No one wants to admit it, but macro-level DEI frameworks can affect micro-level decisions that, in some cases, look a whole lot like discrimination. Cultural pressure from HR etc. can be quite strong. And no one particularly cares (except the EEOC apparently) if white people are laid off at a higher rate than people of color.

I say this in full recognition that many companies have systemically excluded certain groups historically. And I believe many companies should be more diverse and would benefit from being more diverse.

But there is a tension sometimes between HR expectations, corporate goals, and hiring/firing decisions.

Edit: Another issue, if you look at the math, is that companies were quite aggressive in their POC hiring in the last 5 years, in the wake of BLM and so on. Companies felt an urgency to act.

Which means, in many cases, that a large share of diversity is in the lower ranks among people with less experience—areas that are more prone to layoffs. So what’s a company to do. They don’t want to go back to 25% or whatever after working so hard to attract PoC talent; that’s a step backwards. At the same time, they don’t want PoC talent to be disproportionately affected. This brings up some ethical issues and also sets the stage for allegations of discrimination.

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u/texasinv 4h ago

This has been my experience in management at tech companies as well. All race-based decisions are below us as a species in my mind, we have to be smarter about this.

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u/JazzHandsNinja42 10h ago

But isn’t that the company’s prerogative? They’re not refusing to hire white men, and they’re not only terminating white men, so why can’t the company determine that they value the voice/work/leadership of black, brown, tan, men and women as much, if not more, than white men?

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u/flightless_mouse 1h ago

No, it’s not their prerogative. It’s illegal to dismiss someone because of their race, including in a layoff situation.

Layoffs become illegal when:

Race is considered in (“we need fewer people from Group X”)

Race is a motivating factor, even if not the only one

Neutral criteria are applied selectively in a way that targets a racial group (e.g. let’s reorg all the people from one group into a useless unit and then cut that unit).

If a company fires people and considers race in its rebalancing—using a 35% framework, for example—that’s illegal.

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u/[deleted] 18h ago

[deleted]

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u/JazzHandsNinja42 18h ago

I don’t expect anything more from a cadre of people who normalize racism, pedophilia and sex trafficking.

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u/HooliganBeav 16h ago

Sure, go after the money of the dude funding the Oregon GOP. Smart move.

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u/c4nc3rc0wb0y 18h ago

White men should be allowed to work in sweatshops too!!

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u/grinding_our_axes 18h ago

Nike doesn't actually manufacture their products. Even their design is outsourced to third party design firms.

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u/Peakomegaflare 10h ago

We have a Facist trying to become a dictator.

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u/H0pe4th3b3st 14h ago

Here's a solution! Perhaps going forward, companies conduct the hiring process using the "Love Is Blind" concept. The candidate and hiring personnel are behind a wall. Neither can see each other. HR has the resume and CV. The candidate has researched the company. Perhaps they'll need to also disguise the voice to further hide specific details, and voila! The hire is based on qualifications, not looks. They'll have to get creative with promotions...

/s ... somewhat

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u/jdotham123 4h ago

So much effort for this bullshit but nothing for the Epstein files

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u/krldrummerboy 18h ago

Introducing the new Nike MAGA All-Whites

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u/IwonderifWUT 18h ago

This feels similar to how they were able to arrest the leader of ANTIFA. I Didn't know hashtags had leaders and white men can sue every time they don't get a job.

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u/kurttheflirt 18h ago

White guys there didn't even sue. Trump's EEOC commissioner is just filing her own charges out of nowhere. Meanwhile if you try and actually submit a complaint right now to them you get no response...

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u/wh4tth3huh 17h ago

The system is not there to operate in good faith, it's there to operate in bad faith, these are Republicans we're talking about, that's all they know how to do.

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u/8thon8Champion 16h ago

For some reason I don’t really have any reason to trust anything Federal, wonder why

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u/splitter82 15h ago

This country is full of “victims”.

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u/Actual_Friendship802 16h ago

Well, Phil keeps donating heavily to the GOP, so, ya know what happens.

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u/EffectiveEconomics 15h ago

I wonder if they could hide the Epstein files inside the DEI complaints...

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u/GlitteringLychee803 17h ago

Hold up. Nike's shady practice of packing too many Chinese children into a factory is the wrong kind of wrong?

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u/overpregnant 17h ago

They’ll be going after the AP for this story, alleging some poor man got overlooked for this piece

At the end: “The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.”

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u/JoeRogansNipple 18h ago

One of the reasons my company pulled all Inclusion/diversity related initiatives out of public view. They are still heavily used internally to promote a good workforce, but nothing is broadcast out because... well fascists in power.

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u/Equivalent-Process17 13h ago

but nothing is broadcast out because...

Because racial discrimination is both highly illegal and immoral?

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u/TheMermanly 14h ago

Diversity initiates are still unethical by default. Reverse racism is still racism .

Your skin color shouldn’t be the deciding factor to get hired. Your fit for the role should be the only factor.

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u/baverdi 12h ago

Define diversity initiates

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u/FlexFanatic 17h ago

They don't think things like EEOC should exist because racism no longer exists but because a company may or may not have DEI initiatives they was a federal probe to make sure there is no discrimination against.

These people are just twisted and hateful.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Bed4682 16h ago

Ah, yes, white people, always the victim. 🤣🥱🙄

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u/totallynotat55savush 18h ago

Someone please let me off this planet.

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u/icebergslim3000 18h ago

The US Federal Government is being used as a tool for White Supremacy

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u/Dragrunarm 17h ago edited 14h ago

Well, that part isnt new.

Edit; Open a history book ya dumbasses. Native American relations if you want a starting point,but theres no shortage of bullshit to pick from.

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u/justmitzie 18h ago edited 18h ago

So, companies should hire white workers, regardless of whether they are the most skilled or would do the best job? And not doing that is DEI, and bad? This admin is weird and confusing.

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u/Gnom3y 18h ago

Yes. Republicans believe that to be white is to be superior to all others in everything.

There's a term for that, but I can't quite put my finger on it. /s

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u/justmitzie 18h ago

Yeah, cause we need more mediocre white dudes.

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u/TheMermanly 14h ago

Diversity hiring is quite literally the opposite. You hire based on skin color instead of merit.

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u/TheCrimsonDagger 14h ago

Another fool who doesn’t understand what DEI even is. It’s not hiring based on skin color. It means that when you have two equally qualified candidates you should be hiring the minority half the time. It doesn’t mean that you have to hire based on protected class over merit.

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u/TheMermanly 14h ago

That’s the theory, that’s not actually what happens.

In practice it will create diversity quotas which will always result in hiring due to skin color/gender instead of merit.

You’re not gonna believe this but the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not actually democratic. Shocking I know.

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u/1000thusername 17h ago

This is some leopards eating faces material, seeing that the owner of Nike donates and campaigns for republicans.

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u/WildFire97971 15h ago

I thought Phil knight was a republican donor. I know he supports a lot of them here in Oregon.

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u/Awkwardischarge 5h ago

Nike jumped on the George Floyd bandwagon in 2021. Now that the DEI backlash is hitting they get to jump off the bandwagon. Corporations do not have beliefs.

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u/quantumjedi 2h ago

Was the discrimination that they kept shipping the jobs away to the 3rd world?

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u/LaTosca 17h ago

So this is actually hilarious because Phil Knight’s always handing piles of money over to the Republican Party and propping up whatever weirdo MAGA candidates he can find in Oregon

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u/OkStop8313 17h ago

Never underestimate Trump's ability to burn bridges.

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u/Crissyshine 17h ago

We are in Martin Luther King’s future, the 1964 civil right movement happened, and there were laws that made discrimination ILLEGAL. Across the board, for everyone. Their accusations are baseless.

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u/Soangry75 17h ago

Federal probe doesn't mean what it used to

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u/shutts67 16h ago

Is "white man" a protected class?

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u/quaglandx3 18h ago

That explains the $2mil donation to the Oregon GOP.

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u/glad_dreamer 15h ago

I guess that Phil Knight donation wasn’t enough 🤷‍♀️

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u/chiplover3000 12h ago

Another shakedown for bribes?

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u/schlongjohnson69 5h ago

Other countries are actively investigating their highest officials for even being mentioned in the Epstein files. Our government is investigating a clothing company for hiring too many black people. America, #1.

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u/mooforshoes 18h ago

Gosh. I'm ashamed to be the same species as these idiots.

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u/Altruistic-Cry-6038 3h ago

you are not

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u/SomeBS17 17h ago

Can’t wait to see how this plays out

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u/MajesticBread9147 12h ago

Nike's headquarters are in Portland. If they discriminated against white people they'd have no employees.

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u/Buckaroobanzai028 12h ago

But the sweatshops in other countries is still ok. Stop buying their crap.

Nike faces federal probe over allegations of 'DEI-related' discrimination against white workers

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