Accenture has agreed to pay $25 million to resolve Justice Department allegations that it violated anti-discrimination requirements in federal contracts by factoring race and sex into hiring, promotion, and training decisions. The settlement, signed by the DOJ and Accenture and made public on Monday, covers Accenture Federal Services, Accenture plc, and Accenture LLP, with alleged violations running from 2017 to the present. The Justice Department said the claims are allegations only and that no determination of liability has been made, while Accenture denied engaging in discrimination. According to the DOJ, Accenture Federal Services distributed monthly reports to business unit leaders tracking the racial and gender composition of their teams through a color-coding system tied to internal demographic targets, and the department alleged those reports drove hiring changes based on race and sex, including a round of entry-level hiring at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021. The DOJ further alleged the company gave extra visibility to candidates advancing its demographic goals during managing director promotion reviews and ran training and mentoring programs with eligibility restricted by race or sex, including one called Amplify to Elevate that ran from August 2022 to February 2025. An Accenture spokesperson told Reuters the company was glad to move past the matter and that signing the agreement carried no acknowledgment of wrongdoing. The Accenture payout follows earlier DOJ settlements with Deloitte and IBM over comparable diversity-related allegations, for $21.5 million and $17 million, respectively, according to Reuters.
Accenture plcAccenture agreed to pay $25 million to settle DOJ allegations of race/sex discrimination in federal-contract hiring, promotion, and training.
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