McDonald's Becomes The Latest Major Company To Retract DEI Policies

McDonald’s is next in line for companies retracting their commitments in the DEI space.

According to NBC News, the fast food giant had been intentional within the space following several lawsuits that had been filed by former Black owners for discrimination and sexual harassment. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, this included Former Oakland A’s player and McDonald’s franchisee Herb Washington. He filed a civil rights lawsuit in 2021 accusing the company of redlining and not providing similar benefits to Black store owners that white franchisees received.

“There are two McDonald’s systems: one that is designed for white owners to flourish and grow and another that is designed to pigeonhole and oppress Black owners,” Washington said in 2021, per the outlet. “I will no longer give up my seat on the bus for white franchisees. After four decades in the McDonald’s system, I have been targeted for extinction. When I stood up for myself and other Black franchisees, McDonald’s began dismantling my life’s work, forcing me to sell one store after another to white operators.”

He continued, “At the very same time, McDonald’s deemed my 35-year-old son ineligible to purchase any stores. While it may look like a multicultural Mecca in TV commercials, the McDonald’s experience for Black franchisees is one of redlining and retaliation. Behind the curtain, McDonald’s is about cultural appropriation and restricting the transfer of intergenerational wealth in the Black community.”

That same year, McDonald’s launched diversity initiatives in a move to lead with “better decision-making.”

“As a world-leading brand that considers inclusion one of our core values, we will accept nothing less than real, measurable progress in our efforts to lead with empathy, treat people with dignity and respect, and seek out diverse points of view to drive better decision-making,” McDonald’s Chairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski wrote in a LinkedIn post at the time, according to NBC News.

Now it appears the restaurant has taken a step backwards. To jumpstart 2025, McDonald’s has decided to dismantle some of its diversity initiatives, including “retiring” its diversity goals in senior leadership. Additionally, it will halt a program designed to diversify leadership within its suppliers.

The timing is credited to a “shifting legal landscape” following the Supreme Court ruling in June 2023 against affirmative action in schools. This prompted a number of companies, including Google, Walmart, Meta, Microsoft, and Zoom, to reduce DEI roles or commitments, as AFROTECH™ previously shared. However, others, like Costco are standing firm on their DEI initiatives.

Rolling back its policies, McDonald’s diversity team will now be known as its “Global Inclusion Team.” The company said it will continue internal efforts around diversity and report demographic information annually though not under the DEI messaging. Externally, it will focus on a “more integrated discussion with suppliers about inclusion as it relates to business performance,” Nation’s Restaurant News reports. With a newly created concept of “Golden Rule,” McDonald’s shared four principles around community, inclusion, belonging, and corporate responsibility, and that it wishes to treat “everyone with dignity, fairness and respect, always.”

The fast food restaurant shared that it would continue supporting underrepresented groups and had already reached one of its goals set in 2021, having accomplished company-wide gender pay equity at every level, according to NBC News. When it comes to supplier spending, McDonald’s also anticipates diverse-owned businesses receiving 25% of total supplier spending by the close of 2025.

“We are proud of the work that we do at McDonald’s,” the company said, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. “We will continue to drive business results through all three legs of the McDonald’s stool, specifically with our people practices, by fueling economic impact and innovation through our robust supply chain and by building a franchisee pipeline that thrives in the communities we serve and fuels our growth.”