{"id":579526,"date":"2026-04-12T09:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/579526\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T09:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:36:13","slug":"ibm-settles-its-dei-lawsuit-with-the-doj-for-17-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/579526\/","title":{"rendered":"IBM settles its DEI lawsuit with the DOJ for $17 million"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\"><a data-i13n=\"elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:1;pos:1\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/science\/ibm-announces-nighthawk-and-loon-quantum-chips-213603769.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:IBM;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:1;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yAffiliateService&quot;:&quot;doNotAffiliate&quot;,&quot;yPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;IBM&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">IBM<\/a> has agreed to settle the US Department of Justice&#8217;s accusations that the company violated civil rights laws with its <a data-i13n=\"elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:2;pos:1\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/big-tech\/state-department-calibri-font-was-a-dei-hire-190454957.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:DEI practices;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:2;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkPosition&quot;:&quot;2&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yAffiliateService&quot;:&quot;doNotAffiliate&quot;,&quot;yPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;DEI practices&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DEI practices<\/a>. According to a <a data-i13n=\"elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:3;pos:1\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/ibm-pays-17-million-resolve-allegations-discrimination-through-illegal-dei-practices\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:press release;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:3;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkPosition&quot;:&quot;3&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yAffiliateService&quot;:&quot;doNotAffiliate&quot;,&quot;yPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;press release&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\">press release<\/a> from the DOJ, IBM will pay more than $17 million to resolve allegations of taking &#8220;race, color, national origin, or sex&#8221; into account when making employment decisions. This settlement is the latest development in a longstanding effort from the Trump administration to end DEI programs, which was kick-started from an <a data-i13n=\"elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:4;pos:1\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/fact-sheets\/2025\/01\/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-protects-civil-rights-and-merit-based-opportunity-by-ending-illegal-dei\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:executive order;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:4;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkPosition&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yAffiliateService&quot;:&quot;doNotAffiliate&quot;,&quot;yPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;executive order&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\">executive order<\/a> in early 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">IBM denied any wrongdoing and said the settlement wasn&#8217;t an admission of liability, while the US government said this conclusion wasn&#8217;t a concession that its claims weren&#8217;t well founded, according to the settlement agreement. According to the DOJ, IBM had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with practices that included altering &#8220;interview criteria based on race or sex,&#8221; developing &#8220;race and sex demographic goals for business units,&#8221; using &#8220;a diversity modifier that tied bonus compensation to achieving demographic targets&#8221; and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">An IBM spokesperson told Engadget in an email that the company &#8220;is pleased to have resolved this matter,&#8221; adding that &#8220;our workforce strategy is driven by a single principle: having the right people with the right skills that our clients depend on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">According to Todd Blanche, the agency&#8217;s acting attorney general, this action is one of the first resolutions to come out of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which was launched in May 2025. IBM isn&#8217;t the only company to alter its policies, with both <a data-i13n=\"elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:5;pos:1\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/mobile\/t-mobile-ends-dei-programs-in-attempt-to-win-deal-approvals-from-the-fcc-202239612.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:T-Mobile;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:5;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkPosition&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yAffiliateService&quot;:&quot;doNotAffiliate&quot;,&quot;yPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;T-Mobile&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">T-Mobile<\/a> and <a data-i13n=\"elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:6;pos:1\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/big-tech\/metas-right-wing-reinvention-also-includes-an-end-to-dei-programs-and-trans-messenger-themes-204031848.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Meta;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:6;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkPosition&quot;:&quot;6&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yAffiliateService&quot;:&quot;doNotAffiliate&quot;,&quot;yPosition&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Meta&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Meta<\/a> agreeing to put an end to its DEI initiatives last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IBM has agreed to settle the US Department of Justice&#8217;s accusations that the company violated civil rights laws&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,254256,212224,254257,46182,167303],"class_list":["post-579526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-civil-rights-laws","tag-dei-programs","tag-employment-decisions","tag-latest-development","tag-us-department-of-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}