Conservative advocacy group America First Legal announced a “victory” on Dec. 3 regarding its request for inquiry into Southwest Airlines’ DEI and ESG policies — but a closer look at the documentation and insight from Southwest tell a different story.
AFL has waged a war on corporate diversity and social responsibility programs, including Target, among others this year.
Regarding Southwest, AFL filed a complaint with the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs in January. The complaint alleged that Southwest had violated federal law by engaging in discriminatory hiring and promotion practices through its DEI program while receiving federal funding.
“Americans have had enough of corporations’ overt discrimination under the guise of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It is unacceptable that corporations are so openly using everyday Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars to meet their unlawful race and sex quotas to achieve some ‘correct’ amount of diversity and representation,” Will Scolinos, counsel for America First Legal, said in a Dec. 3 press statement.
In a letter published by AFL, a regional director for the OFCCP acknowledged receipt of the advocacy group’s complaint and stated that representatives “held an informal compliance conference” with Southwest on Dec. 2. It stated that airline leadership “understands that OFCCP regulations do not permit quotas, preferences, or set asides.”
The letter from OFCCP said Southwest agrees that “placement goals,” “utilization goals” and “hiring benchmarks” should not be used as ceilings or floors as it builds its talent pools. Instead, placement and utilization goals should be used as a “benchmark against which [Southwest] measures the representation of persons within its workforce.”
HR Dive reached out to AFL for clarification on how placement goals and benchmarks differ from quotas, and how it thinks Southwest should proceed. AFL did not respond.
No evidence of federal law violation
In short, DOL does not outline that there was any wrongdoing on Southwest’s behalf. Nowhere does it say that Southwest violated the labor legislation mentioned, including Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974.
OFCCP Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Samuel Maiden declined to comment on the matter.
Further, the letter indicated that Southwest plans to reassess its employment practices if it fails to meet its hiring benchmarks and will “take appropriate measures to address identified problem areas and remedy any unlawful discrimination.”
“Such remedies may include assessing and revising policies and practices that hinder equal employment opportunities, broadening recruitment and outreach to increase the diversity of applicant pools, and/or instituting training and/or apprenticeship programs to increase promotion opportunities and applications from underrepresented groups,” the letter stated.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
A Southwest spokesperson told HR Dive that it will “continue to recruit, hire, and retain a diverse and inclusive workforce in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.” The spokesperson confirmed the informal conference on Dec. 2, where the OFCCP “reiterated that Southwest should continue to abide by the regulations.”
“OFCCP made no determination of any violations by the airline,” Southwest said.
Additionally, although AFL stated it “received confirmation” Southwest agreed to abandon its DEI practices based on the OFCCP’s letter, the letter did not indicate any changes would be made to its programs and Southwest did not indicate it would be altering its program as a result of the discussion.