America First Legal, a pro-Trump legal advocacy nonprofit, has filed suit for the third time against International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) for allegedly discriminating against its older White male employees in furtherance of the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
The plaintiff in this latest suit filed against IBM on Wednesday is a former 64-year-old White male employee of the company named John Loeffler, who is alleging that his superiors at IBM imposed a series of unfair requirements on him, despite nearly a decade of good performance, in an effort to oust him because he is an older white male.
The suit follows two others that AFL filed against IBM in 2024, also on behalf of older, White-male employees at IBM who allege that the company’s DEI policies that favor women and minorities have led to their discriminatory terminations despite a history of good performance at the company.
TRUMP-ALIGNED LEGAL GROUP FIGHTS TO RESTORE MERIT-BASED FEDERAL HIRING
“Racial discrimination is always wrong. Yet sadly, our client’s experience—as detailed in the complaint—is painfully familiar to countless Americans across the country,” AFL President Gene Hamilton said. “Employers need to make employment decisions based on merit, not based on arbitrary quotas that distinguish between Americans based on the color of their skin.”
Loeffler’s issues began around 2023 when his boss retroactively pulled a promotion Loeffler was given, and reoriented the commission pay structure for which he was receiving, according to AFL’s suit. The move put Loeffler at a great disadvantage compared to other employees, and was ultimately the basis for why he was allegedly denied his commission payments, AFL claims.
Loeffler was also paired with a Black female colleague to do his job, but Loeffler claims she was given a commission framework – not in line with standard company practices – that allowed her to rake in commission from the government contract they were working on, while Loeffler was not. The suit also claims the Black female employee was placed on a performance improvement plan “that was objectively less difficult to achieve than Mr. Loeffler’s.”
FIVE YEARS AFTER GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS, TOP COMPANIES CHANGE THEIR TUNE ON DEI
Meanwhile, sometime that same year, IBM assigned a new manager to Loeffler’s team, which he heard about during a company meeting in which the new boss was praised for his approach to DEI.
“Look at all the black and brown faces on this call . . . [The new boss] has done a great job injecting diverse talent on this team, and if he keeps it up, he can expect a long career at IBM and lots of bonuses,” the meeting host stated at the time, according to Loeffler’s suit. His sentiment was also reportedly echoed by other executives at the meeting.
Upon meeting with his new boss for a performance review in late-2023, Loeffler claims his review departed significantly from those he had completed in the past and was not consistent with his job performance. As a result of the review, Loeffler was allegedly placed on a performance improvement plan that the suit claims was “impossible to meet.” It included an expectation that Loeffler achieve 70% of his annual target within weeks, according to AFL’s suit.
The suit adds that if Loeffler’s commission framework and promotion had not been retroactively pulled from him, Loeffler still would have been able to meet the ambitious targets he was expected to meet.
But, unable to meet the expectations put in front of him, Loeffler was terminated.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON DENIES ENGAGING IN ILLEGAL DEI PRACTICES AFTER GROUP MAKES CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT
After Loeffler’s termination, the bulk of his portfolio went to two younger, non-White employees whom Loeffler had previously mentored and found to be – in his eyes – ill-equipped for the job. Meanwhile, IBM instructed Loeffler’s boss following his termination to replace him with two younger non-White employees, AFL’s suit alleges.
“IBM once stood as a symbol of American innovation—powering the moon landing, advancing modern computing, and embodying the very best of American enterprise,” said AFL legal counsel Laura Stell. “When a company as emblematic as IBM turns its back on merit, it sets the tone for all of corporate America. AFL will hold IBM accountable—and in doing so, help safeguard the future of American excellence.”
In 2024, AFL filed two other similar suits against IBM, alleging that the company was discriminating against two older White male employees in furtherance of racial hiring quotas and other DEI practices at the company.
In one suit, a former employee alleges IBM’s executive bonuses were tied to achieving specific racial and gender hiring quotas, and earlier this year a federal judge allowed the case to continue after finding the claims were plausible and sufficient to move forward. The other suit claims that shortly after IBM announced hiring quotas aiming for 30% women globally and 30% associates of color domestically, 22 employees were terminated – 21 of whom were White males.
According to AFL, in addition to complaints from defendants, public disclosures further support its claims levied in all three of these suits. AFL points to undercover footage that they insist captures IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna calling for explicit racial and gender quotas and explaining how executive bonuses would be tied into how they are disbursed.
AFL also claims that IBM’s own company documents confirm this assertion from Krishna, noting how the company’s 2022 Annual Report describes a “diversity modifier” as part of executive compensation. AFL also says IBM’s 2023 environmental social governance (ESG) report reaffirms that bonuses are tied to workforce demographics.
“In 2021, IBM’s CEO publicly announced that racial quotas would be tied to financial incentives and penalties,” Hamilton said. “In 2023, our client was told that his new manager would have a ‘long career at IBM and lots of bonuses’ if he kept adding ‘all the black and brown faces [to] this call.’ Four months later, that same manager fired our client. We look forward to vindicating his rights in court.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, an IBM spokesperson strongly rebuked the allegations being levied against them by AFL, calling them “baseless.”
“Age, race or gender were not factors in the decision to end [Loeffler’s] employment with IBM,” the spokesperson added. “Discrimination of any kind has absolutely no place at IBM.”
Read the full article here
