Here is another example of discriminatory DEI. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post (see here), the effects of DEI have simply changed one form of discrimination to another. I now offer a case where the discrimination was so blatant that the courts have stepped in and reversed an outrageous situation.

Today’s Wall Street Journal (1 April 2024, and no, this is not an April Fool’s joke) lays out the details in an editorial headed: You Can’t Fire Only the White Guys (see that here). The editorial demonstrates that illegal discrimination is still illegal discrimination even if a corporate HR department calls it equity and inclusion. Details are provided on a federal appeals court recent opinion that upheld a jury verdict for a hospital executive who argued he was fired simply because he was a white male amid a workforce diversity onslaught.

Fired abruptly

The man, David Duvall, had spent five years as a senior vice-president at Novant Health, a large North Carolina medical group, when he suddenly was fired, even though there was “no record of any documented criticism of his performance or reasons for his termination.” The firing shocked his colleagues, and his duties were taken over by two women, one black and one white. And when his permanent replacement was hired, all three finalists were black women.

Evidence indicated that Novant was “deeply interested” in the demographic makeup of its workforce, and its Diversity and Inclusion Executive Committee recommended “a 3-4% increase in black leaders over the next three years.” (I would bet there was no mention of expertise, rather simply the color of skin of those to be hired, and thus clearly discriminatory.)

Why?

So, what did Novant Health tell Mr. Duvall when he was fired? The company told him they were “going in a different direction.” Indeed they were, to another form of discrimination. Yet months later, his old boss spoke to a corporate recruiter and said he’d be happy to hire Mr. Duvall again. (I would bet that his old boss didn’t check with the DEI folks.)

After the verdict for Mr. Duvall, Novant released a statement that read in part, “We continue to believe having a workforce that reflects the communities we serve allows us to provide the personalized care our patients need to reach their best possible health.”

Discriminatory DEI

That statement, of course, reflects one of the two opposing views on DEI, but to me it simply tries to justify the substitution of one obvious discrimination for another.  Why not hire employees based on their accomplishments and their talents, rather than on the color of their skin? Why not hire the best and most capable personnel available, regardless of skin color? That would be the best way to allow their patients “to reach their best possible health.”

I have the impression that some justify the use of DEI “to right old wrongs.” But to me this too is misguided. There have been generational shifts. Those discriminated against today are not the discriminators of earlier times. For some reason, that reminds me of a cartoon I saw somewhere decades ago; I think it was in the New Yorker. An older white man was sitting in an easy chair looking up at a young black man and saying, “Two hundred years? Why I’m not nearly that old.”