Free Webinar - EEOC Nike DEI Matter Explained: What HR Teams Can Learn from the Ongoing Investigation

   Scroll to the bottom to watch the entire 30 mins explainer

Overview

The ongoing EEOC Nike DEI matter has brought renewed attention to how employers design, document, and manage DEI-related programs. This free HR compliance video explains what HR teams can learn from the matter without jumping to conclusions or treating an investigation as a finding of wrongdoing.

The key issue is not whether DEI is legal. The practical concern for employers is whether race, sex, or another protected trait becomes a factor in actual employment decisions such as hiring, promotions, layoffs, pay, leadership programs, mentoring, internships, training access, or ERG-linked opportunities.

This session walks HR professionals through the Title VII guardrails that should shape DEI-related workflows. It focuses on equal opportunity, neutral criteria, documentation, demographic data controls, complaint response, agency request readiness, and role-based training for the teams most likely to touch these decisions.

Areas Covered:

• What is currently understood about the ongoing EEOC Nike DEI matter
• Why HR should describe the matter as an investigation, not a finding of liability
• How Title VII applies to employment decisions involving race, sex, and other protected traits
• Difference between lawful inclusion efforts and risky decision-making practices
• Where DEI-related risk may appear in hiring, promotions, layoffs, training, mentoring, internships, ERGs, and compensation
• Why demographic data should be separated from employment decision-making
• Red flags HR can spot during a DEI program review
• Safer practices for outreach, leadership development, mentoring, and talent pipelines
• How to respond when a DEI-related complaint, EEOC charge, subpoena, or agency request arrives
• Why record preservation, counsel review, and one designated response owner matter
• How to build program guardrails through eligibility review, neutral criteria, data controls, compensation review, role-based training, and approval gates
• Training needs for HR compliance, legal, recruiting, HRBPs, employee relations, DEI, L&D, compensation, HRIS, people analytics, and managers
• Practical workplace scenarios involving leadership programs, hiring targets, promotion notes, DEI complaints, bonus metrics, and demographic data access

Why Should You Watch This Webinar?

Many employers are trying to preserve meaningful inclusion work while also managing a more sensitive legal and political environment around DEI. This video helps HR teams understand the difference between expanding access and using protected traits as decision-making factors.

The session is especially useful because it focuses on real HR workflows, not just policy language. Hiring notes, promotion calibration discussions, leadership program eligibility, ERG access, mentoring criteria, compensation metrics, HRIS demographic data access, and manager communications can all become important if a complaint or agency request appears.

The explainer gives HR teams a practical framework: protect equal opportunity, use neutral job-related criteria, keep demographic data away from decision-makers, document business reasons clearly, and review high-risk programs with counsel before problems arise.

Who Will Benefit?

This short explainer is designed for professionals involved in DEI program design, hiring, promotions, compensation, employee relations, workforce data, training, leadership development, compliance, and employment decision-making. Those include:

• HR Managers
• HR Directors
• CHROs
• HR Compliance Professionals
• Employee Relations Professionals
• HR Business Partners
• DEI Leaders
• Diversity and Inclusion Managers
• Learning and Development Teams
• Recruiting Managers
• Talent Acquisition Professionals
• Compensation Managers
• Total Rewards Professionals
• HRIS Managers
• People Analytics Teams
• Employment Counsel
• In-House Legal Teams
• Compliance Officers
• Talent Management Leaders
• Leadership Development Teams
• ERG Program Managers
• Internship Program Managers
• People Managers
• Department Managers
• Operations Leaders
• Business Owners
• Federal Contractor Compliance Teams
• Workplace Investigation Teams
• Risk Management Professionals

Watch the entire 30 mins explainer here: