American Airlines Grounds DEI Hiring Policies After Investigation

American Airlines has officially abandoned its DEI-driven hiring practices.

They’re admitting they violated federal laws in their biased hiring practices.

The shift comes after a complaint from America First Legal.

That brought about a Department of Labor investigation.

Uh-oh! Now they’ve been caught.

So, now that they have a change of heart (or the fact that they got caught), AA has decided to change their ways.

They’ve pledged to focus on merit-based recruitment.

Well, it’s a start.

Now they need to go back to how air travel was in the 50s’ through the 70’s, before they decided to cram everyone in like a can of sardines. I’ll show you at the end of this article.

The Post Millennial reports:

American Airlines (AA) will no longer be recruiting and hiring based on the dictates of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. The company admitted that the policy is a violation of federal laws that protect equal access to employment, America First Legal announced Tuesday.

The US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) informed America First Legal about the decision. “American companies must return to using merit—not the desire to check a DEI box—to select the most skilled and qualified employees. American Airlines’ agreement with the OFCCP is AFL’s latest victory in our fight to put illegal discrimination on the no-fly list,” said Will Scolinos, America First Legal Counsel

The decision came as a result of a complaint filed by AFL against AA with the OFCCP, which accused the company of not complying with federal law even though the airline does a massive amount of business with the federal government and has been the beneficiary of $140 million in federal contracts since 2008. In order to qualify for those contracts, AA had to promise to adhere to the Executive Order 11246 that prohibits discrimination in hiring, promotion, or employee training based of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It has failed to do so and has embraced discrimination based on race and sex in its hiring practices, Cadet Academy program and promotional activity.

On Dec. 13, 2024, the OFCCP began investigating AFL’s complaint by interviewing AA representatives and assessing the company’s record as per the instructions of 41 CFR §60-1.24 (c) (2). That investigation found clear evidence that the airline had failed to uphold the equal opportunity component, necessitating a compliance conference to initiate remedial action. Following the intervention, AA affirmed it had been in violation of laws banning discrimination based on race or gender when hiring or promoting its business and agreed to cease that contravention.

BREAKING: American Airlines to end DEI employment practices, per @America1stLegal. pic.twitter.com/KDcky5Lsmu

— Leading Report (@LeadingReport) December 17, 2024

Maybe now they can focus on fixing planes.

And then we won’t see so many engines catch fire during take off.

Like this one:

ALPA is not just America.
It's Canada, too. Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) is the largest pilot union in the world, representing more than 77,000 pilots from 43 US and Canadian airlines.

ALPA using DEI to wipe out history because wiping out history for a small… https://t.co/2qBnFjZLPb pic.twitter.com/BbsSQpzahn

— Navy⚓Brat (@_NavyBrat) June 19, 2024

Remember when the engine was falling apart during take off?

🚨BREAKING: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 engine rips apart during takeoff.

A Southwest Airlines flight bound for Houston immediately returned to Denver.

Maybe Boeing can spend less time on DEI and focus more on safety of their aircrafts and passengers. pic.twitter.com/8iUp9WccHI

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) April 7, 2024

This whole year has been a nightmare for air travel.

This is Alaska airlines. Imagine your pilot being hired based on DEI system. pic.twitter.com/mHAtxkgUAs

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) January 11, 2024

Why do we need to know the degenerate behavior of their staff?

It cost Southwest $11 BILLION dollars.

DEI: Would you be surprised to know that Southwest Airlines $LUV has lost more than $11 billion in market value since formally adopting DEI? Hiring based on identity and not merit puts lives at risk and destroys shareholder value. Do better Southwest… pic.twitter.com/eYMnGGjPgs

— @amuse (@amuse) July 20, 2024

Remember how flying used to be?

A look back at airline meals from the 1920s to the 1970s https://t.co/8rfTVQO7Vh pic.twitter.com/szM30VlOJp

— Travel + Leisure (@TravelLeisure) June 18, 2017

Are you saying you’d rather have that than a small back of peanuts?

The golden age of air travel. A Pan Am stewardess serves drinks aboard a 747, in the aircraft's lounge. The company's planes were a familiar sight throughout airports across the globe, before its demise in 1991.#USA #nostalgia #aviation #flashback pic.twitter.com/KD7SClQCsR

— Yesterday's Britain, A Better Britain. (@YesterdaysBrit1) January 28, 2024

We’ve been trained to accept terrible air travel conditions as it’s been normalized.

Make Flying Great Again!

This was how babies used to travel in the 1950s. Flying on a plane can still be an unpleasant experience for some adults. Now, imagine how foreign and troublesome it must have been for babies and their parents.

To address this, in 1953, one airline company engineered a solution… pic.twitter.com/yTtd28VGis

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) October 16, 2023

Remember what they stole from us.

And call it back in!

I refuse to fly until this is brought back.

Southwest Airlines flight attendants in the 1970s. San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive. See more: https://t.co/o4OLXWNybR pic.twitter.com/Q2oRmbZMhm

— History Defined (@historydefined) September 26, 2022