Washington, D.C. -- At tomorrow's annual Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholder meeting, a representative of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project (FEP) will present a proposal requesting that the Board oversee an independent audit analyzing Berkshire's legal and reputational risks stemming from its subsidiaries' Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) programs.
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"Berkshire subsidiaries may be engaging in unethical and illegal racial discrimination under the guise of DEI," FEP Executive Director Stefan Padfield will tell shareholders. "For example: (1) GEICO includes on its website race-based employee resource groups; (2) Shaw Industries also offers race-based employee groups, and has a supplier diversity program that tracks supplier spend on the basis of race and includes performance goals 'set around increasing spend with diverse suppliers'; (3) Fruit of the Loom includes increasing representation of 'ethnically diverse talent' across the organization as one of its sustainability goals."
In the proposal's written supporting statement, FEP noted that such initiatives open Berkshire up to liability and financial risk:
In 2023, a corporation was successfully sued for a single case of discrimination against a white employee resulting in an award of more than $25 million, and the risk of being sued for such discrimination appears only to be rising. Berkshire's subsidiaries have as many as 30,000 employees. Even if only a fraction of employees file suit, and only some of those prove successful, the cost to the subsidiaries could reach tens of billions of dollars. And that does not include non-employee suits, such as from vendors negatively impacted by a subsidiary's race-based policies.
At tomorrow's meeting, Padfield will also quote several black Americans who serve with the Project 21 black leadership network and vehemently disagree with the DEI agenda. For instance:
Priscilla Rahn... notes that "affirmative action... initiatives... haven't fundamentally changed economic outcomes for black families over generations," and concludes that "Focusing on skills, education and economic policies that benefit all Americans will do more to lift black families than race-based programs."
On this last point, imagine what corporations could accomplish if they stopped dividing us on the basis of race and sex in the name of DEI, and instead focused on raising the floor for all Americans in areas such as education, which would directly address the pipeline problems driving our demographic inequalities.
In addition to requesting that shareholders vote YES on Item 5, FEP has published an entire voting scorecard for Berkshire shareholders as part of its Proxy Navigator voting guide, including these recommendations:
- ITEM 1: Board of directors: VOTE FOR THE ENTIRE BOARD
- ITEM 2: Shareholder proposal from our ally National Legal & Policy Center requesting that the Company publish a report regarding the costs and benefits of Berkshire Hathaway Energy's voluntary environmental activities: FOR
- ITEM 3: Shareholder proposal requesting that the Company disclose the highest NEO's pay ratio: AGAINST
- ITEM 4: Shareholder proposal from our ally American Conservative Values ETF requesting that the Company issue a civil rights and non-discrimination report: FOR
- ITEM 5: Shareholder proposal requesting that the Board of Directors oversee an independent racial discrimination audit: FOR. This is our proposal and focuses specifically on the risks of illegal discrimination in the name of DEI at Berkshire's subsidiaries
- ITEM 6: Shareholder proposal requesting that the Company designate a Board Committee to oversee the Company's diversity and inclusion strategy: AGAINST.
- ITEM 7: Shareholder proposal requesting that the Company annually disclose its clean energy financing ratio: AGAINST
- ITEM 8: Shareholder proposal requesting that the Board charter a new committee of independent directors to address risks associated with the development and deployment of AI across the Company's operations: AGAINST
About FEP
The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 60,000 active recent contributors.
FEP, the original and premier opponent of the woke takeover of American corporate life, aims to push corporations to respect their fiduciary obligations and to stay out of political and social engineering. More information about this proposal can be found in FEP's mobile and web app, ProxyNavigator.
Contributions are tax-deductible and may be earmarked for the Free Enterprise Project. Sign up for email updates at https://nationalcenter.org/subscribe/.
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