A conservative legal organization is requesting investigations into pharmaceutical company Sanofi for alleged racial discrimination following an exposé by investigative journalist James O’Keefe.
The America First Legal (AFL) Center for Legal Equality is filing federal civil rights complaints against Sanofi with the U.S Equal Opportunity and Employment Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) for alleged racial and sexual discrimination, the Daily Caller has learned. (RELATED: James O’Keefe Says Project Veritas Is Suing Him Again, One Day After Reportedly Ceasing All Operations)
DEI LEAK: Executives from Pharma company Sanofi caught on leaked zoom call discussing discriminatory hiring practices:
Carole Huntsman, Former Senior VP:
“One in five hires NEEDS to be a black employee for us to meet our goals” …
“One in ten HAS to be a Latinx employee.”… pic.twitter.com/BgHzHNDa4Q
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 22, 2023
AFL’s complaints cite a recording released by O’Keefe on Twitter, where executives from Sanofi appear to discuss race and gender-based hiring quotas for the coming years.
“One in five hires needs to be a black employee for us to meet our goals,” a former Sanofi executive says in O’Keefe’s footage. The former executive gave a similar description for “Latinx” employees at the pharmaceutical firm.
Sanofi is a global pharmaceutical company with a market capitalization of roughly $125 billion and $45 billion of revenue. The company sells vaccines for a wide variety of global diseases including the initial strain of Covid-19 and its variants. Each day, an estimated 2.5 million people are supplied with Sanofi vaccines.
Sanofi’s 2022 diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) impact report says the firm plans on having 50% of its senior leadership be women by 2025, a 9% increase from current totals. The report also contains goals for Black, Hispanic and Asian hiring practices by 2025, with the asian hires excluded from the R&D and digital divisions.
Internal quarterly diversity operating reviews (DORs) are ongoing for Sanofi senior leaders and business units to track the firm’s diversity and talent metrics, the report outlines. Senior Sanofi executives also sit on an internal Executive DEI Council that meets monthly to coordinate with the DEI team and other DEI councils inside the firm.
Each U.S. employee of Sanofi is subject to mandatory DEI goals as part of their annual performance goals, and 98% of employees have incorporated DEI goals.
READ THE COMPLAINTS:
“A Commissioner’s charge is particularly appropriate here because there is ample reason to believe that Sanofi has knowingly and intentionally violated federal law and intends to continue to do so,” AFL’s complaint to the EEOC reads. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
“Many in the business world have lost their minds. Instead of valuing individuals as individuals and selecting personnel for hiring and promotion based on merit, radical advocates have convinced otherwise intelligent people in corporate America that the only thing that matters is a person’s skin color or sex,” AFL Vice President and General Counsel Gene Hamilton said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller.
“Unsurprisingly, these race-based employment practices are illegal, and we are wholly committed to ensuring that they end everywhere that we find them.”
This story has been updated to more accurately describe the nature of AFL’s complaints.