Verizon general counsel says the changes are ‘effective immediately’
Verizon Communications will end all of its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs “effective immediately,” the telecom giant told the Federal Communications Commission this week.
In a letter to FCC chairman Brendan Carr, a Verizon attorney said the company will remove references to DEI from its leadership structure, job functions, and training materials. Verizon, the country’s second-largest phone and Internet provider, will also remove diversity metrics aimed at increasing its female and minority workforce from its bonus and incentive program for company executives.
“Verizon is changing its HR structure and will no longer have a team or any individual roles focused on DEI,” said Verizon general counsel Vandana Venkatesh. “Verizon is making these changes to its practices not just in name or in the way they are described, but in substance.”
“These changes are effective immediately,” said Venkatesh. Carr called the decision a “good step forward for equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, and the public interest.”
It marks a major win for the Trump administration, which has slashed DEI offices across the federal government and cut grants to organizations that implement DEI. President Donald Trump, on his first day in office, issued an executive order to end DEI, which he called “illegal and immoral discrimination programs.”
Carr, a Republican, launched an investigation into Verizon on Feb. 27, citing the company’s public statements in support of DEI, and training materials that informed employees about “systemic racism” and “white privilege.” Carr noted Verizon’s hiring of former attorney general Eric Holder to oversee an audit in order to strengthen its DEI initiatives.
The investigation threatened to derail Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications to expand Verizon’s fiber network in the United States. In March, Carr warned that the FCC may block media mergers and acquisitions over DEI. “Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” he told Bloomberg News.
In February, Carr launched an investigation of Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal and MSNBC, over its promotion of DEI. NBCUniversal chairman Cesar Conde launched a “50 Percent Diversity Initiative” in 2020 to make a majority of the company’s workforce female and non-white. While Comcast is not engaged in any merger or acquisition talks, the media conglomerate is planning to spin off cable channels like MSNBC and CNBC into a separate publicly traded company.
In the letter to Carr, Verizon said it “has modified its approach to supplier diversity,” by removing requirements that the company spend a certain amount with suppliers based on their race or gender.
And Verizon will “update” its corporate policy regarding sponsorships of nonprofit groups. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg announced a $10 million commitment to seven social justice groups in June 2020, shortly after the murder of George Floyd. Among the recipients were Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, the NAACP, and the National Urban League.
“Verizon is fiercely committed to diversity and inclusion across all spectrums because it makes us and the world better,” Vestberg said in the statement, which Verizon recently scrubbed from its website.
Verizon did not respond to a request for comment.
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