AT&T has promised the government that it will not pursue DEI. That’s according to a letter the company sent to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr on Dec. 1.
The move, which follows in the footsteps of Verizon, T-Mobile, and Skydance, comes as AT&T seeks FCC approval for a $23 billion acquisition from broadband provider EchoStar. Carr has threatened prosecutions and opened investigations into companies over DEI, and praised others for abandoning their practices.
“We have closely followed the recent Executive Orders, Supreme Court rulings, and guidance issued by the US Equal Employment opportunity Commission and have adjusted our employment and business practices,” the letter reads.
AT&T said in the letter that it does not, and will not, have a DEI team. DEI does not exist at AT&T, “not just in name but in substance,” and the company “does not and will not have any roles focused on DEI.”
While the company echoed language used by the Trump administration, including “merit-based” and “invidious DEI,” in its four-page letter, it doesn’t appear as though AT&T is announcing new changes, including the elimination of existing programs. Instead, it said programs “are and will continue to be open to all, consistent with Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964].”
“AT&T’s reversal isn’t a sudden transformation of values, but a strategic financial play to curry favor with this FCC/Administration,” Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, said on X in response to the letter. “Companies should remember that abandoning fairness and inclusion for short-term gain will be a stain to their reputation long into the future.”
AT&T rebranded its DEI programming in 2024 and made changes earlier this year, seemingly after pressure from conservative activist Robby Starbuck, including abandoning much of its support for the LGBTQ+ community and ending participation in external benchmarking indexes.
However, AT&T does still have some initiatives traditionally associated with DEI, such as employee resource groups (ERGs), which have existed at the company for over 50 years.
“Our letter reaffirms our longstanding practices of hiring and promoting based on merit, supporting an engaged workforce, and meeting our business objectives to serve customers nationwide,” Rebecca Acuña, a spokesperson for AT&T, told HR Brew in an emailed statement.
AT&T’s letter echoes promises that Verizon made to Carr in May, including that it would sunset most of its DEI programs, dissolve its DEI team, and suspend DEI training, HR Brew reported previously.
At the time, David Glasgow, executive director at New York University’s Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, and co-author of the forthcoming book, How Equality Wins, predicted that the federal government would not allow companies to simply rebrand.
“The less optimistic view is that this administration is on an absolute tear on this topic, and will keep grinding away to root out anything that is about promoting fairness and equal opportunity in the workplace, unless it is just old-school discrimination law compliance,” Glasgow told HR Brew.
Glasgow said it’s unsurprising that companies would change course based on government directives. “Just the vague threat of an executive order tossing around the term ‘illegal DEI’ is making a lot of companies scared to continue with it. So unfortunately, I do think we’ll probably see more.”
This report was originally published by HR Brew.
