MLB Targeted by Ex-Trump Adviser’s Group Over Diversity Programs

Major League Baseball is the latest to face accusations from a conservative legal advocacy group that it’s engaging in race and sex discrimination by running diversity programs aimed to support minorities and women within its workforce.

In a letter to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, America First Legal Foundation, a group led by former Trump advisor Stephen Miller, said that the MLB’s website publicizes several “facially unlawful employment and contracting programs” that go against the sports league’s commitment to not discriminate against any individual.

These programs include the “MLB Diversity Pipeline Program,” for front-office and on-field baseball operations roles, as well as a “Diversity Fellowship Program,” according to the letter. AFL also cited a “Diversity in Ticket Sales Training Program” targeted at women and people of color to help grow their visibility and move them “directly into hiring pipelines with clubs.”

This letter, which was sent as the MLB’s fall playoff season gears up, is one of several requests made lately by the legal group to the federal civil rights agency. AFL has asked the EEOC to look into diversity practices it says violate anti-bias laws at high-profile companies including Salesforce, Morgan Stanley, McDonald’s Corp., and Starbucks Corp.

The group has said the companies’ programs aim to increase workplace representation of women and minorities at the expense of White heterosexual men in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The AFL appears to have accelerated its efforts following the US Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions decision that curbed race-conscious admissions policies in higher education.

AFL is asking that the EEOC commission members use their discretionary powers to file a “commissioner charge” against the MLB. Such a charge can be filed by any of the five members and doesn’t require an employee or applicant to submit a complaint to the agency.

Despite a recent jump in filings, commissioner charges are still relatively unusual. There were a total of 29 filed in the 2022 fiscal year, a dramatic leap from the three filed in 2021.

The MLB has “reversed the progress that it has made since 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier,” with its use of “discriminatory” diversity programs, AFL said in its letter.

In addition to the EEOC, AFL also sent a separate letter to the commissioner of the MLB, Rob Manfred. It said the group is prepared to represent any individuals harmed by the MLB’s programs and employment policies.

The MLB didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.