Apple’s board advises shareholders to vote against proposal to eliminate diversity programs – Reuters

(Reuters) – Apple’s (NASDAQ: ) board of directors advised investors against a stock proposal to eliminate the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, according to a proxy filing from the company.

The National Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank, proposed that the company consider eliminating its “Inclusion & Diversity Program, policies, departments and goals.”

The proposal cited recent Supreme Court decisions arguing that DEI would bring “litigation, reputational and financial risks to companies” and make Apple more vulnerable to lawsuits.

Apple responded that it had a well-established compliance program and that the proposal was unnecessary. He added that the shareholder proposal was an inappropriate attempt to manage Apple’s business strategy.

“Apple is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring, hiring, training, or promotion on any basis as permitted by law,” the iPhone maker said in the filing. The news was first reported by TechCrunch.

Several major companies, including Meta (NASDAQ:) and Amazon (NASDAQ:) , are scaling back diversity programs ahead of Republican Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency amid growing conservative opposition to such initiatives.

In the year Conservative groups have condemned DEI programs and threatened to sue companies over them after a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down affirmative action in university admissions decisions.

In the year The changes show how some of America’s biggest businesses have responded to a big conservative push on diversity since the 2020 protests that followed the police killings of George Floyd and other black Americans.