A conservative public interest law firm filed a civil rights complaint against cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike on Wednesday for racial and sex discrimination.
America First Legal said that CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. allegedly discriminated against white men by segregating them, forcing them to complete trainings, and limiting their promotions for the sake of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI.
On Friday, CrowdStrike was responsible for a global technology outage that canceled and delayed thousands of flights, disrupted businesses, and disabled Microsoft Windows computers. CrowdStrike blamed a bug in an update that allowed its cybersecurity systems to push bad data to millions of its customers’ computers.
“Companies across the country, including CrowdStrike, appear to have forgotten about their obligations under federal law,” an America First Legal spokesperson told The Daily Signal. “AFL is committed to bringing unlawful DEI policies to the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s] attention for appropriation action. These divisive and illegal policies must be stopped.”
America First Legal asked the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate CrowdStrike in a letter, citing the company’s commitment to hiring diverse employees.
“As part of our commitment to building a diverse workforce, we champion inclusive recruitment initiatives like our Return to Work Program, which values the diverse skills people acquire in many contexts,” the CrowdStrike website says. “Through employee resource groups, internal development programs, allyship training, speaker series, networking opportunities, and more, we are empowered to come together to create a workplace that reflects the diverse communities around us.”
CrowdStrike is failing in its duty to create shareholder value and comply with applicable laws by prioritizing DEI, America First Legal said in a letter to the company’s board of directors.
“The company has unambiguously emphasized diversity, equity, and inclusion at the expense of shareholder value,” the letter says. “Further, the company has infused its hiring, promotion, and recruitment practices with unlawful racial considerations. This conduct indicates that the company lacks effective internal controls and suggests an inappropriate disregard of your fiduciary duties to CrowdStrike and its shareholders.”
CrowdStrike has a number of employee resource groups for various identity groups, including women, LGBTQ+ people, black employees, and Hispanics, but America First Legal noted that white men fit into no group.
The tech company’s public proxy statement includes a “Board Diversity Matrix” that tracks the sex, gender identity, race, and ethnicity of its current directors. This is used for accepting future board members, according to America First Legal’s news release.
“By openly hiring to ‘build a diverse workforce,’ instituting race- and sex-based development resource groups and creating a ‘Board Diversity Matrix,’ CrowdStrike’s actions patently violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” America First Legal argues.
In a statement, CrowdStrike’s chief human resources officer, J.C. Herrera, said a “diverse and equitable organization” is “key” to the company’s success.
“In fact, innovating through inclusion is a big part of our lives at CrowdStrike,” he said.
