NEW: Missouri sues IBM for alleged discrimination against whites, Asians

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced on Thursday that he has filed a lawsuit against International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) for violations of the Missouri Human Rights Act and allegedly discriminating against those who are not "underrepresented minorities," such as whites and Asians.   

"IBM gives its executives two choices: discriminate or lose your job," Bailey wrote in the lawsuit. He said that IBM uses a "diversity modifier" to "shackle executive compensation to meeting race-, color-, national origin-, sex-, and ancestry-based employment quotas." 

Bailey said that IBM executives who meet the quotas receive an additional bonus, but those who fail "lose part of their bonus and, eventually, their job." 

Bailey noted a video released by James O’Keefe’s O’Keefe Media Group in December, featuring IBM Chief Executive Officer and Board Chairman Arvind Krisha, as well as current and former executives of Red Hat, which IBM acquired in in 2019. In the video, the Krishna said that "all executives in the company, have to move forward by 1 percent on both underrepresented minorities." 

"Moving forward by 1 percent meant pushing the workforce closer to the quota goal of representational demographics," Bailey wrote, later adding that "tying the quota system to bonus compensation serves not as a mere incentive to reach preferred demographics, but also as a cudgel against those who do not fall in line." 

Bailey wrote that several IBM employees, officers, and agents "have lost their employment with IBM, suffered a negative change in employment status, or otherwise suffered an adverse employment action at the hands of IBM because they, too, either defiantly or otherwise, failed to meet or exceed IBM’s annual 'diversity modifier’ quota." 

At the time of the video, he wrote, IBM sought to make black workers at least 13 percent of its workforce, Hispanics at least "the mid teens," and women at least "slightly over 50 percent." 

"It has come to my attention that IBM has adopted an unlawful policy that blatantly favors applicants of a certain skin color over others, and that managers within the company who refuse to comply with said policy face adverse action, including and up to, termination. Discrimination in the workplace violates both state and federal law, which is why I am filing this lawsuit," Bailey said in a statement. 

"Missourians deserve answers as to why one of the largest technology and consulting companies in the world, with offices based in Missouri, is discriminating against both prospective and current employees. As long as I’m Attorney General, discrimination will be dead on arrival in this state," he added. 

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