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Exclusive: The federal civil rights complaint has been filed with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Committee (EEOC). Los Angeles Dodgers and Guggenheim Partner, an investment company that was allegedly engaged in “illegal discrimination” under the guise of “diversity, fairness, and inclusion” (DEI) in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The lawsuit was filed against both entities led by the non-profit, conservative public interest organization, America First Legal (AFL), led by Mark Walter, the Dodgers’ majority owner and CEO of Guggenheim Partners.
Walter recently became the majority owner A historic $10 billion deal with the Bass family of the Los Angeles Lakers.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers spoke with batter Hei Ohtani (17) as president of Andre Friedman (left), the baseball business, while owner Mark Walter (center) heard at Otani’s introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium. (Kirby Lee-Usa Today Sports)
“As explained below, their employment practices appear to discriminate against employees, or prospective employees, just for their skin color or sex. This is patently illegal,” the AFL complaint provided to Fox News Digital began.
The AFL complaint argues that the employment practices of the Dodgers and Guggenheim partners are discriminatory. Because, even when using an inclusive terminology, it is used to classify or classify for employment for employees or employment, and employment, training, or promotion is taken away, promotion is taken away, promotion is taken away, promotion is taken away, promotion is taken away, promotion, or promotion, gender, place of origin.
The complaint continues by pointing out how to do it Dodgers’ DEI website It is a “sponsored program aimed at women and people of color,” and reads “embedding diversity, equity and inclusion strategies in all aspects of the organization.”
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The AFL also had issues with the DEI mission statement on the Dodgers site.
“Our mission is to create a culture where diverse voices and experiences are appreciated, our people are empowered by their connections and our team and all our employees feel successful,” the statement said.
“Our accusations are to induce impacts, track them, establish clear accountability, measure reporting standards, ambitious goals, and measure success,” AFL said.
The AFL argued that teams use DEIs in a quantifiable way with identifiable goals to achieve “success.”
The complaint refers to the Dodgers, which allow employees to participate in multiple “business resource groups” (BRGs) within the organization, and provides employees with a “forum where they gather with other employees with common interests, identities, and/or social issues.”
A general view of the outfield plaza before the MLB game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves on May 5, 2024. (Kiyoshi Mio/USA Today Sports)
The AFL complaint brought the exception: “It appears that some of the BRGS provide significant employment benefits to employees based on race, color, gender, or national origin.” The complaint mentions Asian experts, Black Action Network, and SOMOS LA.
Additionally, the complaint called for an investigation into the Guggenheim Partner. There is also a “Diversity and Inclusion” page that shows that DEI play a role in recruitment, professional development, contracts and more.
“Guggenheim Partners make it clear that they define “diversity” to “explicitly include consideration of protected classes.”[es]”Includes based on race, gender, ethnicity, age, religion, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity,” the complaint reads.
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The complaint points to the Guggenheim Partner’s commitment to “expanding diversity in the pipeline.” This hopes to “develop diversity recruitment and talent management strategies to identify, attract, develop and retain top talent.”
“If diversity motivates employment decisions and “diversity” refers to race, color, gender, national origin, as for Guggenheim Partners, the outcome is illegal discrimination,” the complaint reads.
Like the Dodgers, Guggenheim Partner also operates the Business Development Resource Group (BDRG).
“BDRG is open to all employees, but aims to provide employment benefits based on certain unchanging characteristics and promote the company’s DEI goals,” the complaint reads, highlighting “women’s innovation and comprehensive network” and “multicultural employee business network.”
The AFL suggests that the EEOC will investigate application data and internal HR policies or practices of the Dodgers and Guggenheim Partners to “identify whether policies explicitly refer to employment preferences based on race, color, gender and national origin in violation of federal law.”
The Dodgers and Guggenheim partners did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
US President Donald Trump is aiming to speak at an event honoring the 2024 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers on April 7, 2025 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Earlier this year, the president Donald Trump A signed executive order intended to roll back the DEI initiative. One of them includes a federal agency directive to combat private sector DEIs. MLB took a step to follow after removing the “diversity” reference from its website in March.
“Our values ​​regarding diversity remain the same,” MLB said in a statement at the time. “We are in the process of evaluating the program for changes to the eligibility criteria necessary to ensure that it is compliant with federal law as it moves forward.”
New York Yankees According to the New York Daily News in April, “despite the national rollback of DEI, despite the national rollback of DEI, we are continuing to work with our members of its diversity and inclusive committee, and are actively involved with our neighbors and community partners.”
“Our dedication to these efforts remains the same, and our Diversity and Inclusion Committee continues its work,” said Brian Smith, Senior Vice President of Business and Community Relations.
In October 2023, the AFL, together with the EEOC, filed a federal civil rights complaint against MLB for racist programs. The complaint alleges that the official MLB website presented at least four illegal employment and contracting programs, citing the diversity pipeline program launched by Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2016.
Mark Walter and the Los Angeles Dodgers are facing lawsuits. (image)
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General Services Bureau (GSA) Changes announced in February It aims to coincide with the President’s executive orders aimed at restoring meritocracy and termination discrimination in the public and private sectors.
Following an owners meeting in Palm Beach, Florida in February, Manfred said MLB would evaluate the interpretation of federal law.
“Our values, especially our values ​​regarding diversity, remain the same. But another value that is very important to us is that we always try to comply with what the law is,” explained Manfred. “It seems like evolution is happening here, and we follow it very carefully.
“Obviously, once things settle a little more, we’ll look at each program and make sure the values ​​remain the same but match what the law requires.”
Jasmine Baehr and Jackson Thompson of Fox News contributed to this report.
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