Feb 18 - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has initiated litigation against Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, a bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products, alleging sex-based discrimination in connection with a corporate-sponsored networking event that excluded male employees.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in New Hampshire, contends that the two-day gathering held at a casino in Connecticut in September 2024 was limited to roughly 250 female employees and therefore violated federal employment law. The complaint describes the event as including a social reception, team-building exercises, recreational activities and presentations from speakers, among them a senior Coca-Cola executive.
According to the EEOC's complaint, the company excused attending female employees from their regular work duties without requiring them to use paid time off and paid for their hotel rooms. Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, which is owned by Japan's Kirin Holdings, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The global Coca-Cola Company is not named as a defendant in the suit.
The filing marks the EEOC's first lawsuit alleging that a diversity-focused workplace program is unlawful since President Donald Trump assumed office. EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas and other administration officials have argued that many commonly adopted diversity, equity and inclusion programs can amount to unlawful reverse discrimination. The lawsuit is being cast by agency officials as an early test of those claims.
Acting EEOC general counsel Catherine Eschbach emphasized the commission's position on employer-sponsored events that exclude protected classes. "The EEOC remains committed to ensuring that all employees - men and women alike - enjoy equal access to all aspects of their employment," she said in a statement accompanying the filing.
The EEOC is separately investigating other employers for alleged discriminatory practices related to diversity initiatives, the agency said. Among the probes it has opened are investigations of Nike and Northwestern Mutual Insurance for claims of discrimination against white workers. The commission also said that, in the prior year, it demanded that 20 major law firms produce information about their DEI policies.
Legal and corporate observers will watch the New Hampshire case closely for how courts apply federal anti-discrimination law to employer-sponsored programs and events that are organized around a particular demographic group. For the bottler, the litigation raises legal liability and reputational questions tied to human resources practices and employee engagement efforts.
Context and implications
The lawsuit illustrates how workplace diversity programs have become a focal point of enforcement actions and regulatory scrutiny. The EEOC's position, as stated in the filing and agency comments, is that excluding employees on the basis of a protected characteristic from employer-sponsored activities is unlawful, regardless of the activity's diversity-related intent.