Corporations across the country are implementing discriminatory human resources policies that are dividing our nation. One jury in North Carolina just pushed back.
David Duvall had been a senior vice president of marketing and communications at Novant Health for five years when the 29,000-employee healthcare provider began implementing “Goal 2 of Phase 2” of its internal Diversity and Inclusion plan. At the beginning of 2018, Duvall’s boss, Novant’s chief consumer officer, had seven direct reports. All of them, including Duvall, were white men. This did not fit with Novant’s Diversity and Inclusion plan, which required diversity at the senior level.
By the end of 2018, Duvall’s boss had just two white male reports. Today, he has none. Duvall was one of the senior white men fired. He was replaced by two women, one black and one white.
When Duvall sued Novant claiming discrimination under Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act, Novant tried to claim he was fired because of poor leadership skills. But the company could not produce any evidence that there were complaints about his performance before he was fired. “He was just fired out of the clear blue sky, and it fit hand-in-glove with the strategic plan and timeline,” Duvall’s attorney told a local television station. The jury agreed and awarded Duvall $10 million in punitive damages.
We hope that corporations across the country take note of Duvall’s lawsuit and start to reconsider their own “diversity and inclusion” initiatives. But more work is needed if we are going to rid corporate boardrooms of woke ideology. Corporations are not hiring woke ideologues because they help improve employee morale or reduce discrimination. They develop and implement these divisive Diversity and Inclusion plans because the courts have nearly forced them to with their interpretation of another part of the Civil Rights Act.
The word “harassment” does not appear in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but through a string of court cases, companies have become liable for discrimination under the law if they allow “severe and pervasive” “unwelcome conduct” in the workplace. This means companies can be held liable for the actions of their employees even though no one in management ever did anything unwelcome or encouraged anyone else to do anything unwelcome.
For example, a black elevator operator in Fremont, California, was awarded $137 million because racial epithets had been scratched on bathroom walls and derogatory pictures had been left around the office. The company, Tesla, fired two of the offending parties and suspended another, but the jury found that wasn’t enough.
The standard for what counts as “severe and pervasive” and “unwelcome conduct” is completely subjective, leaving companies desperate for a checklist to follow to make sure they can’t be held liable for these types of suits. This is where woke Diversity and Inclusion plans come in. By implementing these trendy plans, companies hope to create something that courts will accept as hard evidence they are countering harassment in the workplace. Mind you, there is no evidence any of these trendy human resources plans accomplish anything. For years, companies forced their employees through implicit bias training even though now there is strong evidence that it does not work.
To end the implementation of divisive woke agendas throughout corporate America, the courts need new precedents. Congress must also reform the Civil Rights Act so there is a more objective standard for workplace harassment.
Otherwise, the number of David Duvalls will only grow.
