Shareholders Demand Pfizer Scrap Race-Conscious Policies in the Wake of Civil Rights Lawsuit

At least one legal challenge to Pfizer s race-conscious governance is all but certain to succeed: The Breakthrough Fellowship, five civil rights experts told the Washington Free Beacon, is an unambiguous violation of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race discrimination in contracting, and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race discrimination in employment. The program includes multiple internships, a fully funded masters degree, and several years of guaranteed employment with the pharmaceutical giant.

Pfizer also appears to be discriminating in its rank-and-file internship programs. A company ESG report issued in 2021 states that Pfizer set out to award 50 percent of summer internships to non-Asian minorities a group that makes up only 36.2 percent of the U.S. population. Pfizer ultimately exceeded that goal by massive margins, with 72 percent of summer interns coming from an “underrepresented group or disadvantaged background.” By “doubling their representation in the general population,” the shareholders say, Pfizer prioritized non-Asian minorities “to the detriment of all other applicants.”

Even if these policies don t put the company s bottom line at risk, Delaware, where Pfizer is incorporated, still holds corporate officers liable for “knowing violation[s] of the law.” With the delivery of their letter, the shareholders say, Pfizer has been “put on notice.”

via freebeacon.com