Coca-Cola shakes off proposed D&I policies audit
Drinks maker had backtracked on diversity and inclusion proposals unveiled by its former general counsel | Conservative lobby group accused multinational company of racism | Starbucks | Apple.
Coca-Cola will be able to avoid balloting shareholders on a lobby group’s proposal to audit its diversity policies at the beverage company's annual meeting.
The National Center for Public Policy Research previously accused Coca-Cola of discriminating against its white employees by carrying out a training session about racism and submitted a shareholder proposal asking the multinational to review its policies.
But in a letter sent on February 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the drinks maker should not have to consider the proposal.
The development comes after Coca-Cola came under scrutiny over its policies regarding the diversity of its outside legal counsel.
Last year Coca-Cola US backtracked on its controversial diversity and inclusion proposals unveiled by its former general counsel Bradley Gayton in 2021.
These mandated that diverse attorneys perform at least 30% of all hours billed to Coca-Cola, with Black attorneys performing “at least half of that amount”.
Critics of Gayton’s proposals had suggested that such policies contravened Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which holds that employers can’t treat people differently based on their race.
The beverage company’s general counsel Monica Douglas confirmed the development in a letter issued to its external counsel.
In the letter, the SEC noted that Coca-Cola did not have to consider the proposal on its proxy as the lobby group had failed to provide documentary evidence of its ownership of company assets, and because its proposal had exceeded 500 words.
The US conservative think-tank, which lobbies against environmental, social and corporate governance policies has similarly filed lawsuits against Starbucks for “racist” programmes and Apple for its climate change policies.
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