Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times,
Southwest Airlines dropped its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requirements on Monday, according to a constitutional rights legal firm that sued the airline company over what it alleged to be “unlawful discriminatory employment practices.”
America First Legal (AFL) issued a statement on Tuesday in which it shared a letter from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) confirming the airline company “acknowledged and agreed to end its illegal race and sex-based discrimination in all hiring and promotional processes, including all unlawful DEI quotas, benchmarks, or preferences.”
The OFCCP said in the letter that it held an “informal compliance conference” with Southwest Airlines to address the allegations AFL made in a complaint filed in January.
The OFCCP reported to AFL in the letter that Southwest “understands that OFCCP regulations do not permit quotas, preferences, or set asides” and agrees that placement goals regulations “are not to be interpreted as a ceiling or floor for the employment of particular groups of persons, but rather should serve as a benchmark against which Southwest Airlines Co. measures the representation of persons within its workforce.”
In the complaint, AFL alleged that Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and American Airlines are in breach of federal contract because they violated Executive Order 11246.
According to the order, federal contractors that secure more than $10,000 in yearly government business are prohibited from engaging in employment decisions that discriminate against employers because of their race or gender.
AFL said that since 2007, Southwest Airlines has received more than $330 million in federal government contracts.
“The American people should not have money taken out of their paychecks to facilitate facially discriminatory actions by federal contractors,” said AFL attorney Gene Hamilton earlier this year.
“But that’s precisely what happens when federal contractors embrace policies that—as they openly admit on their websites and in other public materials—discriminate against Americans based on immutable characteristics.”
Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, and the OFCCP didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by publication time.