Last week, a federal court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a conservative shareholder against Starbucks challenging the company's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. He called the lawsuit "frivolous."
In 2020, Starbucks decided that it needed a greater representation of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) employees. As a result, it announced a policy that aimed to increase company-wide BIPOC representation to
at least 30% in five years. Its
efforts included implementing a leadership accelerator program for BIPOC employees,
linking executive compensation to meeting DEI goals, and granting funds to community nonprofits.
National Center for Public Policy Research, which owns around $6,000 in Starbucks stock,
sued, claiming those policies require the company to make race-based decisions in violation of state and federal civil rights laws. Explaining the lawsuit, the NCPPR
said that setting "goals for the number of 'diverse'—meaning not-white—employees it hires … is outright racial discrimination."