America First Legal Accuses Hershey of Racial and Sex Discrimination While Hiring
By law, employers may not discriminate against an employee or potential employee because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. But America First Legal Foundation (AFL) says the Pennsylvania-based chocolate and snack maker The Hershey Company publicly admits to such discrimination.
AFL, a legal firm that fights policies that erode principals upheld in the founding documents of the United States, sent a letter (pdf) to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on March 28 asking for an inquiry into individual or systemic discrimination at Hershey, pointing to its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan to build a workforce with specific percentages of immutable characteristics, such as gender.
“Hershey is well on its way to meeting its ambitious goals of 50 percent gender representation across its workforce and 42 percent of its leadership by 2025,” a Feb. 28 Hershey press release said. “Gender equity serves as a key element of the company’s enterprise DEI strategy.”
The press release links to the company’s 2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report (pdf). In it, Hershey describes how it intends to ensure 30 to 40 percent representation of racial minorities across its U.S. employees.
The report shows that Hershey offers some opportunities for special training only to nonwhite and female employees.
“We continue to invest in early-in-career and midcareer development and training to develop commercial skills and career building for POC [people of color] and women,” the report says.
The Epoch Times requested comment from Hershey’s ESG and DEI media communications representative. Hershey did not respond before press time.
Discrimination Based on Characteristics
“The corporation attempts to justify discriminating based on a worker’s race, color, sex, and/or national origin in the name of ‘actively recognizing and developing talent that has traditionally been underrepresented,’” AFL said in its letter to EEOC. “There is ample reason to believe that the company has knowingly and intentionally violated federal law and will continue to do so. As early as 2019, Hershey’s was aware that its unlawful employment practices were creating legal risk. Regardless, the corporation has chosen to promote and use employment practices that are both patently illegal and deeply harmful.”
Discrimination based on characteristics such as race, color, national origin, or sex generates a feeling of inferiority among people being passed over for opportunities with regard to their status in the community, and this may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone, the letter said.
“Hershey’s employment practices foment contention and resentment–they are odious and destructive. It truly is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race or sex,” AFL said in its letter.
AFL invites anyone with information about Hershey’s to contact them at equality@aflegal.org.
“Congress made the correct decision decades ago to prohibit companies from discriminating against American citizens because of immutable characteristics like race and sex,” Gene Hamilton, AFL vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. “In recent years, it’s become apparent that a generation of corporate leaders and activists have decided that it’s actually okay to do so, as long as it leads to their desired outcomes. Quotas over quality. It’s illegal, it’s illogical, and it must stop.”
