Mars Inc slapped with civil rights complaint citing candy giant’s woke hiring, training practices

On Wednesday, America First Legal (AFL) sent a letter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Washington, DC, field office requesting an investigation into the company for what it claims are “strong reasons to believe that Mars is intentionally and systemically violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by unlawfully conditioning hiring, promotion, and training on race, color, national origin, and/or sex."

According to Fox News, AFL argued the company is establishing quotas based on immutable characteristics in violation of Title VII in the complaint which cited the company’s goal to "achieve gender balance across one hundred percent of its leadership teams" and to ensure "leadership teams and Associate representation... reflect the race and ethnicities of the labor force in the markets in which it operates."

AFL noted Mars’ "Commitment to Inclusion & Diversity" statement demonstrating “how deeply unlawful discrimination is embedded in Mars’s employment and contracting practices," and claimed the company’s training opportunities are discriminatory because it provides "leadership development training" and "mentorship circles" only for women.

According to AFL, "Mars’s discriminatory hiring and training programs are patently illegal and deeply harmful. Discrimination against job applicants or employees based on immutable characteristics such as race, color, national origin, or sex 'generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds.'"

AFL said in a statement to the outlet, "With $45 billion in sales in 2022, Mars is a world-bestriding corporate behemoth and one of the largest food companies in the world. No one should be above the law, and Mars should be held to account for its unlawful discrimination. America First Legal will keep fighting to preserve our Constitution and to protect equal opportunity for all Americans."

Earlier this year, M&M’s, a brand of Mars Wrigley, found itself at the center of controversy after modernizing their "spokescandies" by shifting away from "prefixes" for individual character names to instead focus on "their personalities, rather than their gender."

AFL’s complaint is the latest in a series of similar actions filed by the firm's Center for Legal Equality against "woke" corporations such as Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, BlackRock, Hershey, Starbucks, and more for policies AFL alleges are discriminating against employees using "equity" as an excuse.