{"id":241811,"date":"2021-05-04T17:27:24","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T14:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/coca-cola-pauses-diversity-plan-after-chief-lawyer-resigns\/"},"modified":"2021-05-04T17:27:24","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T14:27:24","slug":"coca-cola-pauses-diversity-plan-after-chief-lawyer-resigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/coca-cola-pauses-diversity-plan-after-chief-lawyer-resigns\/","title":{"rendered":"#Coca-Cola pauses diversity plan after chief lawyer resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Coca-Cola pauses diversity plan after chief lawyer resigns<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Woke Coke has gone flat.<\/p>\n

Coca-Cola has paused its controversial diversity plan \u2014 that included penalties on outside law firms if they failed to meet racial diversity quotas \u2014 after intense backlash.<\/p>\n

The pause comes after the orchestrator of the plan, Coke\u2019s former general<\/a> counsel Bradley Gayton, abruptly resigned<\/a> last month after less than a year on the job and as criticism of the quotas mounted. <\/p>\n

Some questioned whether Gayton\u2019s policies violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says employers can\u2019t treat people differently based on their race.<\/p>\n

Scott Leith, a spokesman for Coke, said Gayton\u2019s replacement, Monica Howard Douglas, is now reviewing the plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there is a leadership change, it takes time for the new leader to review the current status of the team, organization and initiatives,\u201d he said. \u201cMonica is fully committed to the notions of equity and diversity in the legal profession, and we fully expect she will take the time necessary to thoughtfully review any plans going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, Gayton made headlines when he unveiled h<\/a>i<\/a>s plans to penalize outside law firms<\/a> that failed to meet new diversity quotas by slashing their fees or cutting ties with them altogether. <\/p>\n

Under the plan, any law firm seeking to do business with the company was required to commit that at least 30 percent of billed time would be from \u201cdiverse attorneys,\u201d and at least half of that time would be from black attorneys.<\/p>\n

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\"James
James Quincey, President and CEO of Coca-Cola<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe hard truth is that our profession is not treating the issue of diversity and inclusion as a business imperative,\u201d Gayton wrote in January, unveiling the plan. \u201cWe have a crisis on our hands and we need to commit ourselves to specific actions that will accelerate the diversity of the legal profession.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Gayton\u2019s sudden resignation last month has thrown the plan into doubt, with outsiders criticizing the plan and urging Coca-Cola to walk it back. <\/p>\n

Legal defense foundation Project on Fair Representation published an open letter<\/a> to Coca-Cola last week warning that Coke\u2019s outside counsel \u201cracial quota requirements\u201d are \u201cunlawful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a meeting with Coke\u2019s global legal team, Douglas, the company\u2019s new general counsel, said that Coca-Cola was \u201ctaking a pause for now\u201d but would likely salvage some parts of the diversity plan, Law.com reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coca-Cola hired Gayton in September 2020 after spending nearly 30 years as the top lawyer at Ford. Despite his departure from Coke as general counsel, he still has a relationship with the company.<\/p>\n

He signed a new contract to serve as a consultant to Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey. In that position, he\u2019ll be making a hefty $12 million over the next year. That included a $4 million sign-on fee and a monthly consulting fee of $666,666, according to an April 21 securities filing. It\u2019s unclear how Gayton will be able to impact the company\u2019s outside law firm diversity plan in his new position.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly Coke\u2019s first stab at being woke. <\/p>\n

In February, employees were urged to be \u201cless white\u201d as part of the company\u2019s alleged diversity training. The \u201cConfronting Racism\u201d course in question was offered by LinkedIn Education and allegedly utilized by the soft-drink titan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the U.S. and other Western nations, white people are social<\/a>ized to feel that they are inherently superior because they are white,\u201d reads one of the slides, allegedly sent from an \u201cinternal whistleblower\u201d and\u00a0posted on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0by YouTube commentator Karlyn Borysenko.<\/p>\n

Another slide suggests \u201ctry to be less white\u201d with tips including \u201cbe less oppressive,\u201d \u201clisten,\u201d \u201cbelieve\u201d and \u201cbreak with white solidarity.\u201d The tweet that shared images of the course went viral. <\/p>\n

More recently, Republican lawmakers have criticized Coke for embracing Democratic-party positions. The Atlanta-based outfit made headlines in April for denouncing a Georgia state law that critics said blocked black people and other people of color from voting. <\/p>\n

GOP lawmakers in turn blasted the company and others that issued statements on the law, telling the corporations to stay out of politics and accusing them of hypocrisy.\n <\/p><\/div>\n