As Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) await a landmark Supreme Court decision, expected this week, on their racial admissions policies, companies are also watching nervously, fearing that the decision could expose their race-based hiring and training programs to civil rights lawsuits.
According to a Harvard Business Review 2022 survey, more than 60 percent of U.S. companies had a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program, which categorizes employees according to race and gender. In addition, following the 2020 police murder of George Floyd, a black man, numerous companies including Wells Fargo, United Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, Delta Airlines, Ralph Lauren, Estee Lauder, and Google parent company Alphabet Inc. announced race-based hiring and promotion policies….