The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has dropped a subpoena enforcement action against Nike, stating the company has complied with requests for information related to an investigation into its diversity and inclusion policies. The agency filed a motion to dismiss the case in a Missouri federal court on Wednesday.
This development comes seven months after the EEOC initially asked the court to compel Nike to fully comply with a subpoena. In its court filing, the EEOC indicated that Nike provided information and documents responsive to the subpoena between March and August, concluding that there is “no remaining controversy” for the court to resolve.
An EEOC spokesperson confirmed the agency's satisfaction with Nike's compliance without a court order following the subpoena enforcement filing. The spokesperson declined to offer further details, and Nike also declined to comment on the matter.
The investigation into Nike was initiated by a charge filed by EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas in May 2024. The charge alleged that Nike's diversity and inclusion initiatives, including public information on mentorship programs, data showing increased minority representation in leadership, and a stated goal of achieving 35% racial and ethnic minority representation in its corporate workforce by 2025, were discriminatory against white employees.
This investigation against Nike was not prompted by a worker complaint but by Lucas's own filing, aligning with what the Trump administration claims are campaigns against corporate diversity and inclusion policies that discriminate against white men and other groups. The EEOC has previously filed a lawsuit against The New York Times, alleging discrimination against a white editor who was passed over for a role given to a multiracial woman. In December, Lucas publicly encouraged white men to file complaints if they experienced race or sex-based discrimination.
The subpoena enforcement action offered a rare glimpse into an EEOC investigation, a process that typically remains confidential unless it leads to public actions like fines, settlements, or lawsuits. Court documents revealed that the EEOC sought extensive data from Nike concerning employment decisions dating back several years. This included information on layoff criteria, how the company tracks and utilizes worker race and ethnicity data, and details about programs perceived to offer race-restricted mentoring, leadership, or career development opportunities.
It remains unclear whether Nike provided all the information initially sought by the EEOC. In February, Nike had characterized the court action as a “surprising and unusual escalation,” asserting that it had already submitted thousands of pages of information and was in the process of providing more. Nike's legal filings argued that many of the EEOC's requests were overly broad and burdensome, amounting to a “fishing expedition” in the hope of uncovering evidence of wrongdoing.