A former vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion has sued a St. Louis-based law firm where she used to work for allegedly discriminating against her because of her race, gender, age and anxiety, which she claimed she suffered as a result of a “racially-charged work environment” and “unachievable levels of work.”
Per the June 30 complaint in Young v. Armstrong Teasdale LLP, the former DEI VP, who is Black, alleged that when the firm hired her, it employed almost exclusively White attorneys.
The DEI exec also claimed that firm leaders repeatedly questioned her abilities, gave her no support and stymied her efforts to carry out DEI goals.
Among other allegations, the complaint said Black attorneys told her they were being excluded from assignments, had clients taken away and were expected to “sink or swim.” When she reported their concerns, management allegedly shrugged them off.
The complaint also alleged that during a meeting to discuss associates of non-White backgrounds, practice group leaders told her the firm’s lowest-performing attorneys were all people of color. When she asked about what training the associates received to support their onboarding and development, one of practice group leaders allegedly said they were expected to “know how to be attorneys when they graduate.”
After the sudden death of her grandmother, the DEI VP took bereavement leave. While on leave, she was allegedly asked to attend a Zoom meeting, during which she was fired, the lawsuit said.
She subsequently sued the firm, alleging a number of claims, including discrimination and defamation under Missouri law.
Maureen Bryand, Armstrong Teasdale’s general counsel, stated in an email to HR Dive that the firm holds “inclusivity as a core value” and “spent several months investigating the allegations in the lawsuit and found them to be frivolous and lacking in any credibility.”
She added that Armstrong Teasdale has retained a litigation firm “to vigorously defend against this malicious attack, and we are certain that the courts will agree with our position that these allegations are wholly lacking in merit.”
The lawsuit comes as tensions mount over corporate pursuits of DEI goals. Some companies, in response to pressure from anti-DEI activists, are reducing or abandoning their programs.
In June, for example, Tractor Supply abruptly retreated from long-standing values and announced it was eliminating all DEI goals, withdrawing its carbon emission goals and ending support for Pride events.
With the business need for diversity and the country’s shifting demographics, DEI faces a “delicate and uncomfortable environment,” attorney Rae Vann, head of labor and employment for Wayfair, told attendants at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in June.
In a LinkedIn post earlier this month, SHRM CEO Johnny C. Taylor announced that the influential HR lobbying association was dropping the “E,” or “equity,” from DEI and adopting the acronym “I&D.”
“We’re going to lead with inclusion, because we need a world where inclusion is front and center. And that means inclusion for all, not some people,” Taylor wrote.
By comparison, Armstrong Teasdale’s website reflects that it maintains the “DEI” acronym. The firm “takes our commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion very seriously,” Bryan told HR Dive. “Every day we work to build diverse client teams that bring people with different insight, experiences, skills and opinions to the table,” she wrote.
Initiatives such as the firm’s DEI department and its inclusion committee “help us hold ourselves accountable for this core value at the highest levels of management,” Bryan said.
CEO leadership is crucial for success with DEI initiatives, according to a June report from The Executive Leadership Council. In a survey of 180 Black executives, 73% who rated their companies as strong DEI performers credited their CEOs with driving DEI strategy, the report noted.
When “diversity fatigue,” or waning levels of interest or enthusiasm for DEI work, sets in, HR professionals can use tools such as data gathering and analysis to hold their leaders accountable for meaningful DEI progress, panelists at a 2023 Diversity Fatigue Summit said.
