Southwest Airlines reverses course on DEI hiring policy

Major airlines are changing course on discriminatory, race-based hiring practices that prioritize ideology over merit, after pressure from a legal group and the Department of Labor.

In a press release Tuesday, America First Legal (AFL) announced Southwest Airlines had agreed to stop discriminating based on race.

“On your next flight, would you rather be told that your pilot checks the right DEI boxes or that he was hired because he was the best of all competing candidates?” asked Will Scolinos of AFL. “Americans have had enough of corporations’ overt discrimination under the guise of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It is unacceptable that corporations are so openly using everyday Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars to meet their unlawful race and sex quotas to achieve some ‘correct’ amount of diversity and representation. 

“Discrimination on the basis of immutable characteristics is always wrong. AFL will continue to fight against discrimination as a substitute for merit in employment decisions – it’s not going to fly.”  

AFL filed a related complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor in January, citing the $330 million in taxpayer-funded contracts received by Southwest since 2007.  

American and United Airlines, which also have dubious DEI employment policies, have received $140 million and $150 million, respectively, since 2008.  

According to AFL, Southwest promoted “more diverse, equitable, and inclusive opportunities and candidate pipelines” and aimed to “[double] the percentage of racial diversity and increasing gender diversity in our Senior Management Committee (Executives) by 2025 as compared to 2020” and “[increase] diversity in Senior Leadership as compared to 2020.” 

American Airlines also said it “must carry the banner around the world for DEI,” and United’s CEO even said they wanted half of their pilot classes to be women or people of color.  

Now, the government is requiring airlines to walk back discriminatory policies.  

In a letter sent Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor informed AFL that Southwest committed to non-discriminatory hiring practices and would not hinder equal employment.  

Southwest specifically agreed that its “hiring benchmarks” are “not to be interpreted as a ceiling or floor for the employment of particular groups of persons” and that company regulations would not permit “quotas, preferences, or set asides.” 

AFL celebrated the decision. 

“The American people should not have money taken out of their paychecks to facilitate facially discriminatory actions by federal contractors,” AFL’s Vice President Gene Hamilton said in January. “But that’s precisely what happens when federal contractors embrace policies that – as they openly admit on their websites and in other public materials – discriminate against Americans based on immutable characteristics. 

“All discrimination is wrong, and we expect the federal government to enforce federal law as Congress directed.”