Florida Attorney General Calls for Investigation of Starbucks’ Diversity Policies

Florida’s Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody has called for an investigation into Starbucks on suspicions that the coffee chain is violating state anti-discrimination laws.

The Details: Moody announced the investigation on Wednesday during an edition of Fox News’ (Right bias) Sean Hannity’s radio show in which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was filling in for Hannity. In her filed complaint, Moody cited Starbucks’ publicly stated hiring goals to “achieve BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] representation of at least 30 percent at all corporate levels and at least 40 percent of all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025 in the U.S.”

Key Quote: Moody said, “The bottom line is hiring practices using race-based quotas are illegal. Starbucks has published publicly available policies that raise sufficient concerns that they are using a quota system, and that compensation is tied to that system.”

How The Media Covered It: The story was not widely covered across the spectrum. CBS News (Lean Left bias) noted that in March, a federal appeals court found a main provision of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” that restricted businesses’ diversity programs as unconstitutional. Florida’s Voice (Right bias) wrote that Moody’s complaint “addresses the counter-notion that Starbucks’ goals” are only goals and probes into the coffee chain for “tying an ‘executive compensation program’ to its diversity efforts.”