Currently, Coca-cola is at the very core of a debate over corporate social justice. The company is threatened with being sued over its supplier diversity program.
Coca-cola removal of its top lawyer places the company in the spotlight as the replacement happened just after he introduced the industry’s bravest diversity program.
Bradley Gayton, one of the most important black lawyers in the US entered Coca-Cola in September. In January he presented a new policy that required his outside law firms to have a minimum of 30% of the time they will be employed by people of colour, people with disabilities, LGBTQ people and women. More specifically, half of that time would have to be worked by black lawyers. Additionally, it is worth noting that failing to accomplish the policy would amount to a 30% fee cut.
However, after only eight months on the job, Gayton decided to resign. There are some suppositions that it was due to the fact of his hostile push for diversity, more precisely for Black lawyers.
Monica Howard Douglas, its successor and a black woman who has been at Coca Cola since 2002, is now reviewing the standards which were put in place by Gayton. She said she intends to stop Gayton’s diversity policy.
The program caught the attention of Edward Blum, an anti-affirmative-action activist. In April, his lawyer notified Douglas that they thought Coca Cola’s outsider lawyer program was illegal as the company policy affirms that if a law firm does not meet the requirements, it faces a non-refundable 30% reduction in fees. Moreover, this latter believes the company should publicly withdraw the racial quotes laws promptly.
The fact that the general counsel, Bradley Gayton, resigned not even a year later, implies that the company is already conscious that its racial requisites are unjustified. Coca-cola should make a public statement where it declares the policy is no longer in effect, otherwise legal action may be forthcoming.
In conclusion, the policies adopted by Bradley Gayton were not deemed legal. The company is threatened with being sued if they do not publicly withdraw the racial quotes laws immediately.
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