{"id":470921,"date":"2021-05-04T13:20:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T17:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=470921"},"modified":"2021-05-04T13:21:04","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T17:21:04","slug":"woke-coke-pauses-diversity-plan-after-intense-backlash-plan-author-suddenly-resigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/woke-coke-pauses-diversity-plan-after-intense-backlash-plan-author-suddenly-resigns\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Woke\u2019 Coke Pauses Diversity Plan After \u2018Intense Backlash,\u2019 Plan Author Suddenly Resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwoke-coke-pauses-diversity-plan-after-intense-backlash-plan-author-suddenly-resigns%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=470921&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1230625386.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>Coca-Cola has pressed pause on a controversial \u201cdiversity plan\u201d after what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/lifestyle\/coca-cola-pauses-aggressive-diversity-plan-after-chief-lawyer-resigns\">Fox News described<\/a> as an \u201cintense backlash,\u201d and the company\u2019s general counsel, Bradley Gayton, who authored the plan, has now abruptly resigned.<\/p>\n<p>As the Daily Wire reported back in February, \u201cCoca-Cola debuted a new policy this year implementing a diversity quota for the outside counsel it retains, saying it will only hire law firms that commit to providing 15 percent of billed time from black attorneys, higher than the percentage of African Americans in the U.S. population.\u201d Law firms working with the soft drink giant, were also required, under the new policy, to \u201ccommit that at least 30% of each of billed associate and partner time will be from diverse attorneys, and of such amounts at least half will be from Black attorneys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The soft drink titan also passed the \u201cdiversity\u201d on to its employees. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/backlash-hits-coca-cola-after-accusations-of-anti-white-agenda\">series of slides leaked to media<\/a>, a company working with Coca-Cola to provide corporate training encouraged Coke employees to \u201cbe less white\u201d in an effort to create a more welcoming and racially diverse workplace.<\/p>\n<p>Gayton reportedly authored the law firm diversity plan after viewing websites for firms providing Coca-Cola\u2019s outside counsel and seeing mostly white headshots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI write you with a heavy heart,\u201d Gayton said in a letter to outside counsel firms, according to the Daily Wire. \u201cGayton declared that Coca-Cola\u2019s previous efforts to promote diversity \u2018are not working\u2019 as apparent from the \u2018alarming number of new partner headshots\u2019 with an \u2018obvious lack of diversity.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The hard truth is that our profession is not treating the issue of diversity and inclusion as a business imperative,\u201d Gayton wrote in his letter. \u201cWe have a crisis on our hands and we need to commit ourselves to specific actions that will accelerate the diversity of the legal profession.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Legal experts, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/lifestyle\/coca-cola-pauses-aggressive-diversity-plan-after-chief-lawyer-resigns\">Fox Business noted<\/a>, questioned \u201cwhether Gayton\u2019s policies violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says employers can\u2019t treat people differently based on their race.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLegal defense foundation Project on Fair Representation published an open letter to Coca-Cola last week warning that Coke\u2019s outside counsel \u2018racial quota requirements\u2019 are \u2018unlawful,&#8217;\u201d the outlet added.<\/p>\n<p>Republican leaders announced boycotts and state and federal legislators warned that if Coca-Cola and other high-profile corporations did not stay out of politics that they could lose tax breaks at the state and federal levels. It\u2019s not clear whether the boycotts or the threats of rescinding tax breaks worked, but Coca-Cola\u2019s stock was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/investing\/2021\/02\/03\/why-coca-cola-stock-lost-12-in-january\/\">down around 12% in January<\/a>. The company plans to report first-quarter profits shortly.<\/p>\n<p>In late April, Coca-Cola quietly announced that Gayton had departed his role as general counsel with a \u201cgolden parachute\u201d \u2014 an unusual event given that Gayton had worked for the company for less than a year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs part of the [separation] agreement, [Gayton] will receive a $4 million sign-on payment and a monthly consulting fee of $666,666, beginning this month and ending April 2022,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20210421005802\/en\/Bradley-Gayton-Appointed-Strategic-Consultant-to-Coca-Cola-Chairman-and-CEO\">the company reported<\/a>, according to BusinessWire, which listed Gayton\u2019s new role as helping to \u201cdrive certain key objectives,\u201d without further explanation.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the new general counsel for Coca-Cola, Monica Howard Douglas, who was hired from inside the Coca-Cola family, is unlikely to carry forward with Gayton\u2019s plan and would say only that the company has \u201cpaused\u201d its diversity hiring plan.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Douglas reportedly offered a few hints about the fate of Gayton\u2019s diversity plan, though concrete details remain elusive,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=161014X1627945&#038;isjs=1&#038;jv=15.1.0-stackpath&#038;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalreview.com%2F2021%2F04%2Fis-coke-rethinking-woke%2F&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.law.com%2Fcorpcounsel%2F2021%2F04%2F27%2Fcoca-colas-diversity-initiative-taking-a-pause-for-now-says-new-gc-addressing-the-legal-team-for-the-first-time%2F&#038;xguid=2738b731495ad9ea1ed5395fafb97a3a&#038;xs=1&#038;xtz=300&#038;xuuid=bce74ba9c4f758eecb4af180ddd7288b&#038;xjsf=other_click__auxclick%20%5B2%5D\">Law.com<\/a> said on the hire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen asked about Gayton\u2019s diversity initiative, Douglas indicated that Coca-Cola was \u2018taking a pause for now\u2019 but would likely salvage some parts of the plan,\u201d the outlet noted, citing a source.\u00a0 Douglas didn\u2019t provide any additional details about what would remain and what would be scrapped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe said she \u2026 plans to use some of it, but everything is being evaluated. They plan to adopt some of [Gayton\u2019s] strategies and passions. Everything was, \u2018More to come,\u2019\u201d Law.com\u2019s source noted.<\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coca-Cola has pressed pause on a controversial \u201cdiversity plan\u201d after what Fox News described as an \u201cintense backlash,\u201d and the company\u2019s general counsel, Bradley Gayton, who authored the plan, has &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2277287,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1230625386.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Woke\u2019 Coke Pauses Diversity Plan After \u2018Intense Backlash,\u2019 Plan Author Suddenly Resigns","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-470921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1230625386.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Woke\u2019 Coke Pauses Diversity Plan After \u2018Intense Backlash,\u2019 Plan Author Suddenly Resigns","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}