The U.S. Division of Justice on Monday introduced an investigation into whether or not the town of Chicago violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act after Mayor Brandon Johnson made feedback at a public occasion highlighting the race of staff in his administration.
“Our investigation is predicated on data suggesting that you’ve made hiring choices solely on the premise of race,” Harmeet Dhillon, assistant lawyer normal of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, wrote in a letter to the mayor.
Dhillon took challenge with six particular remarks the mayor made when visiting the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood on Sunday:
- “Enterprise and financial neighborhood improvement, the deputy mayor is a Black lady.”
- “Division of planning and improvement is a Black lady.”
- “Infrastructure, deputy mayor is a Black lady.”
- “Chief operations officer is a Black man.”
- “Price range director is a Black lady.”
- “Senior advisor is a Black man.”
She famous that DOJ had not reached any conclusions concerning the investigation’s subject material and would contemplate all related data.
In a clip of the feedback posted to YouTube by ABC 7 Chicago, Johnson launched the subject by noting that two Chicago administrations in the past, 70% to 75% of the administration was made up of White staff.
“In my administration, 45% of my administration is Black, 25% is Latin/a, 30% is White, 8% is Asian,” Johnson mentioned on the occasion. “It’s the most numerous administration within the historical past of Chicago.”
“There are some detractors that may push again on me and say, ‘The one factor that the mayor talks about is the hiring of Black individuals,’” he mentioned. “No. What I’m saying is, once you rent our individuals, we all the time look out for everyone else.”
Title VII complaints about DEI targets ramp up
In current months, as President Donald Trump and federal companies have elevated scrutiny of range, fairness and inclusion applications, attorneys have cautioned employers to revisit their insurance policies and guarantee quotas, set asides and preferences usually are not a part of their strategy to DEI.
In an op-ed for HR Dive, Jonathan Segal, accomplice at legislation agency Duane Morris, inspired employers to go additional and re-evaluate applications which are “not unlawful per se, however which can encourage unlawful conduct,” resembling aspirational range targets and applications that classify staff into oppressive or oppressed teams primarily based on id.
Whereas not new, so-called reverse discrimination claims have gained traction in current months. The ninth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals on April 25 reversed a decrease court docket’s grant of abstract judgment to Clorox, holding the corporate must face a former worker’s discrimination lawsuit as a result of its “illustration targets” had been adequate proof that might sway a jury. And in an analogous case earlier that very same month, a former senior supervisor for Accenture accused the corporate of selling feminine staff over him in pursuit of a gender parity purpose.
Town of Chicago, particularly, launched its first Fairness Report in 2024 beneath Johnson. The administration aspired to a workforce that “displays the demographics of the Metropolis,” the report mentioned, with sure departments laying out targets to diversify workers illustration, although none recognized particular proportion targets throughout the report.
Town of Chicago mayor’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark by press time.
