WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) secured a major victory in Dill v. IBM, its lawsuit against International Business Machine Corporation (IBM), when the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan denied IBM’s motion to dismiss the case, alleging the company engaged in illegal race and sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The lawsuit, filed by AFL in August 2024, alleges that IBM violated federal law by systematically discriminating against white male employees and firing AFL’s client, a model employee with stellar performance reviews, to further the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) quotas based on race and sex.
In today’s ruling, the court held that “Dill has alleged sufficient facts to support the elements of a ‘reverse discrimination’ claim, namely, background circumstances and an adverse employment action motivated by Dill’s race or gender.” The court concluded that “accepting Dill’s factual allegations as true, and drawing all reasonable inferences in his favor, it is plausible that IBM’s Diversity Policy incentivized his managers to discriminate against white males and that Zook’s unrealistic PIP was a means to carry out that policy by creating a pretext to terminate Dill. At this stage, Dill has provided enough facts to state viable race and gender discrimination claims against IBM. For the foregoing reasons, the Court will deny Defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint.”
This lawsuit is AFL’s second case against IBM for discriminatory and unlawful employment practices. In May 2024, AFL sued IBM’s subsidiary, Red Hat, for violating civil rights laws by allegedly engaging in discriminatory employment and termination practices against white males.
AFL remains committed to holding IBM accountable for its unlawful discrimination and will continue to expose and challenge illegal DEI policies across corporate America.
Statement from Andrew Block, America First Legal Senior Counsel:
“We look forward to continuing to litigate this case and fight for justice on behalf of our client,” said Andrew Block.
Read the order here.
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