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McDonald's is being sued over a program that awards scholarships to Latino students, a move that comes days after the fast-food giant divested some of its diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) politics.
The American Alliance for Equal Rights, which challenges racial preferences and discrimination, says McDonald's HACER program discriminates against some high school students.
last week McDonald's said it would modify some of its DEI policies, which critics considered “woke”.
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The Fort Worth location that serves as a pilot for the automated program. (CREDIT: McDonald's corporate / Fox News)
“When corporations say they will replace controversial and polarizing programs with more neutral ones, that doesn't always mean that society has undergone any meaningful changes,” AAER President Edward Blum said in a statement. “A corporate press release announcing policy changes is often little more than a public relations exercise.”
“It is astonishing that after what McDonald's describes as a comprehensive audit of its civil rights programs and policies, the Hispanic-only HACER scholarship was not identified as a likely violation of our nation's civil rights laws,” he added.
Changes at McDonald's include scrapping its “representation aspirational goals”, getting rid of its DEI commitment to its suppliers, changing the name of its diversity team to the Global Inclusion Team, and ending external surveys.
“But when McDonald's expressed this new commitment to treat 'everyone' fairly, it didn't mean everyone. Even after a civil rights audit, McDonald's chose to continue a program that blatantly discriminates against high school students based on their ethnicity,” he added. the lawsuit states.
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McDonald's said began discussing the changes months ago and acknowledged it was weighing the legal landscape after the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action in 2024, as well as similar moves by other companies.
FOX Business reached out to AAER and McDonald's. As part of the program, McDonald's is giving away $100,000 to 30 students with at least one Hispanic or Latino parent.
“We are in the process of reviewing the complaint and will respond accordingly. However, McDonald's last week announced its progress in our inclusion work and part of that process will be to review the programs in conjunction with our franchisees, where relevant, to ensure these programs are compliant with our vision moving forward,” the company said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
The suit came from an A high school girl from ArkansasAccording to the lawsuit, I was looking for college scholarships.
“McDonald's provides unusually large scholarships (up to $100,000) through a program called HACER. The catch? McDonald's only provides them to Hispanics,” the lawsuit states. “As a non-Hispanic white girl, an Arkansan cannot apply. Despite her financial need. Despite her inability to choose or control her ethnic heritage.”
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AAER is asking a judge to issue a temporary injunction before the company announces this year's award in February.
Breck Dumas of FOX Business contributed to this report.
