It’s all fun and game until you get sued.
The Coca-Cola Company is “pausing” some of their plans because they may be violate the constitution.
The soda giant is pausing their “diversity initiative” after the firm replaced their top lawyer after only being on the job eight months. Bradley Gayton suddenly resigned after he introduced an “aggressive” diversity initiatives before the company’s general counsel. One of those initiatives would have forced the company outside lawyer firm’s to meet diversity quotas.
Earlier in 2021, Gayton announced sweeping changes to the Coca-Cola Company.
The plan sought that any law firm wanting to do business with the company would be forced to “provide KO (the contracting officer) with self-identified diversity data (including American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Women, Hispanic/Latinx, LGBTQ+, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander and Persons with Disabilities) for KO’s quarterly analysis of the diversity of teams working on KO matters.”
The biggest issues surrounding Gayton’s policies was that it violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states employers can’t treat people differently based on their race.
Gayton’s plan would have penalized outside law firms that met Coca-Cola’s diversity requirements of 30 percent of bill time would be from “diverse attorneys” and half of those diverse attorney’s would need to be black.
The Legal defense foundation Project on Fair Representation published an open letter warning Coca-Cola last week that their “racial quota requirements” were “unlawful.”
Gayton was replaced with Monica Howard Douglas who informed staffers that the diversity initiative was on “pause.”
Douglas claimed that she will use some of it but it will all be “evaluated.”
Things have gone downhill for Coca-Cola after embracing false talking points about the voter integrity law signed into law in Georgia.
“Should Coke choose to read the bill, share its true intentions and accept their role in the dissemination of mistruths, we would welcome a conversation about to rebuild a working relationship,” the Georgia GOP lawmakers wrote in their letter.
Conservatives also began to boycott Coca-Cola products over their position surrounding that has negatively effected the company.
“For all these folks that are saying it’s restrictive and aggressive and a step backwards, Jim Crow 2.0 – I mean, African American, Latino, and other minorities, their turnout in elections has increased in Georgia,” Georgia Governor Kemp said. “Which is what’s so insane about all of this.”
Coca-cola is definitely feeling the heat, shortly after the boycott their CEO announces they want an open discussion with both sides and now they are “pausing” their landmark diversity program.
