WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration is using a Civil War-era law targeting fraud to go after Google, Verizon and other major corporations for implementing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in their hiring and promotion policies.
According to a Dec. 29 report featured in The Wall Street Journal, federal investigators have issued demands for documents and internal information from several companies, including Google and Verizon, regarding their consideration of DEI initiatives in their hiring and promotion practices.
Though the companies in question have already abandoned their DEI initiatives – Google in early February and Verizon in May – the administration is arguing that they did not comply quickly enough. Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting both public and private institutions from implementing DEI programs on his first day in office following his second inauguration, on Jan. 20, 2025.
The False Claims Act was signed by President Abraham Lincolon in March 1863 in response to unscrupulous government contractors that had sold the Union Army faulty weapons, sickly horses and rancid rations. The law, also known as the “Lincoln Law,” allows a whistleblower to sue unscrupulous contractors on behalf of the government, and thereby to claim a percentage of whatever government money is recovered.
The False Claims Act has been used to sue federal contractors that have committed Medicaid/Medicare fraud, or which have overbilled the...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration is using a Civil War-era law targeting fraud to go after Google, Verizon and other major corporations for implementing diversity, equity and inclusion (...