‘Clearly Illegal’: Pfizer Stockholders Demand Company Stop Discriminating in the Name of Diversity

A set of Pfizer stockholders are demanding the pharmaceutical giant immediately put an end to a series of policies designed to further embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into the company’s workplace, but that the stockholders claim are discriminatory and “clearly illegal.”

The stockholders sent a letter to Pfizer leaders last week arguing that the policies in question – including allegedly discriminatory “principles” used to select company directors, discriminatory contracting practices, and a controversial fellowship program that is not open to white and Asian-American students – violate American civil rights laws. The stockholders are represented by the American Civil Rights Project, a public-interest law firm, that fights for Americans’ shared civil rights and against identitarian divisions.

“The Stockholders believe that the risks the Policies have created for Pfizer are tangible and materially threaten the value of both Pfizer and its shareholders’ interests in Pfizer,” the shareholders wrote in the ten-page letter.

National Review has reached out to Pfizer for comment on the letter. The company previously told the Wall Street Journal that “all of our actions comply fully with all U.S. employment laws, including the Breakthrough Fellowship Program,” and that “we create opportunities for people without taking them away from others.”

The stockholders sent their letter just days after a group of health care professionals, students, and policy-makers with the Virginia-based non-profit Do No Harm filed a lawsuit against Pfizer over its “Breakthrough Fellowship Program.” They argue that the program illegally discriminates by race, and violates Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The fellowship, which is only open to black, Hispanic, and Native American college students, offers selected fellows a variety of benefits, including professional mentorship, internships, post-graduation employment, and full scholarships for master’s degree programs, according to the lawsuit. Students who are “not from a minority group identified for the Breakthrough Fellowship Program” – white and Asian-American students – are not eligible, according to the company’s website.

In their letter to Pfizer leaders, the stockholders noted concerns about the fellowship program, as well as other allegedly discriminatory policies and practices. They claim that in its 2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance [ESG] policy agenda, Pfizer spelled out its “refreshed Global DEI Strategy and Governance Structure,” which “aims to further embed DEI into our workplace.” The report identifies dozens of key initiatives and metrics “aligned to removing barriers and improving diverse representation for colleagues and partners.”

“The ‘diversity’ whose ‘representation’ the Global DEI Strategy prioritizes is entirely focused on immutable characteristics,” according to the stockholder letter.

In addition to raising concerns about the fellowship program, the stockholders also allege that Pfizer: has adopted discriminatory “principles” that dictate the demographic makeup of the company’s directors; appears to have committed to discriminating based on race, ethnicity, and sex in its supplier contracts; and utilizes discriminatory policies in promotional decisions and in its process for selecting summer interns. The stockholders say Pfizer has exceeded its established DEI goals in part by linking the goals to executive compensation.

“In short, Pfizer has made the compensation of its decisionmakers contingent on their alteration of the race-and-sex balance of their workforces” through a discriminatory compensation policy, the stockholder letter states.

The letter accuses Pfizer of violating several federal laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as parallel civil rights laws in several states, including New York, where Pfizer is headquartered, and Delaware, where the company is chartered. They argue this makes Pfizer vulnerable to lawsuits similar to the Do No Harm suit.

“These issues gravely concern the Stockholders,” the letter reads. “The Stockholders therefore demand that you immediately, publicly retract the Policies in their entirety and return to compliance with American civil rights law.”

The letter calls from a response from Pfizer within 30 days. If the company doesn’t respond in that time, “the Stockholders will be forced to seek judicial relief to protect Pfizer and the Stockholders’ interests in the company from your continued breaches of your fiduciary duties,” the letter states.