CV NEWS FEED // American Airlines is ending its corporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices, according to a Tuesday report from America First Legal Foundation.
In a series of X posts, the legal foundation shared copies of a letter from the U.S. Department of Labor. The letter came after the foundation filed a civil rights complaint against American Airlines due to the airline’s contract with the U.S. government.
“The U.S. Department of Labor has confirmed that American Airlines will end race and sex-based discrimination in hiring and promotions following AFL’s federal civil rights complaint,” AFL stated.
“Dear Will Scolinos,” the Labor Department’s letter began: “This correspondence acknowledges receipt of your organization’s complaint, filed against American Airlines, alleging a violation of Executive Order 11246, as amended (EO 11246).”
The letter then outlined a series of resolutions made by American Airlines:
- American Airlines understands that OFCCP regulations do not permit quotas, preferences, or set-asides.
- American Airlines agrees that placement goals (under Executive Order 11246), utilization goals (under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended), and hiring benchmarks (under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended, 38 U.S.C. § 4212) 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 American Airlines measures the representation of persons within its workforce.
- If American Airlines fails to meet a utilization goal or hiring benchmark, American Airlines will assess its employment practices and 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.
In an additional post, AFL outlined the series of events that led to the change in American Airlines’ policies.
“AFL filed the complaint against American with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) on January 17, 2024, requesting an investigation into the airline for allegedly violating its federal contracting nondiscrimination obligations,” the foundation wrote.
“Despite receiving over $140 million in federal contracts since 2008, American Airlines engaged in illegal race and sex-based discrimination in hiring, recruitment, and promotional processes,” the foundation continued. “On December 13, 2024, the OFCCP held a compliance conference with American Airlines, indicating violations of the equal opportunity clause.”
“Following AFL’s federal civil rights complaint and the compliance conference with the OFCCP, American Airlines agreed to end illegal race and sex-based discrimination in all hiring and promotional processes,” wrote the legal team. “Including unlawful DEI quotas, benchmarks, and preferences.”
The organization also noted its success in ending DEI practices at other airlines, such as Southwest and United.
“AFL filed similar complaints against United Airlines and Southwest Airlines earlier this year,” they wrote. “All three airlines — United, Southwest, and American — have now agreed to end illegal DEI policies.”
The end of DEI practices in both American Airlines and Southwest is no small feat as the two airlines control roughly 50% of the wider airline market in the U.S.
AFL noted that the news represented a “significant step towards restoring fairness in the industry,” and reiterated the organization’s commitment to ending taxpayer funding of unlawful federal contracts.