Microsoft agreed to recognize the group Jews at Microsoft as one of its “employee resource groups” based on ethnicity and company-funded, after having said at first that Judaism is a religion and not an ethnicity.
The company opted to change its mind after the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law had threatened to file a federal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Brandeis Center stated on Tuesday.
It said that the groups, from which Jews had been excluded, facilitate “extra opportunities for professional development, career advancement and the ability to collectively oppose discrimination in the workplace.” (JNS sought comment from Microsoft.)
“The Brandeis Center applauds Microsoft’s Jewish employees on achieving equality with other employee groups,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and a former U.S. assistant secretary of education for civil rights.
“Microsoft must provide all of its employees, including Jews at Microsoft, equal employment opportunities,” he stated. “We will not hesitate to take legal action on behalf of Jewish employees whenever equal rights are denied.”
Steven Phillips, founder and executive director of JewishERGs, a global network of Jewish employee resource groups, told JNS that he is “encouraged by Microsoft’s decision.”
“Leading Jewish ERGs is challenging, especially in environments that don’t treat Jewish employees equitably and which have been targeted by antisemitic protests,” he said.
