EXCLUSIVE: America First Legal (AFL) has announced that it has submitted a formal request to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to launch a federal probe into Penguin Random House. The group contends that the publisher’s openly shared diversity, equity, and inclusion framework may involve illegal employment practices based on race and gender.

On December 16, 2025, America First Legal Foundation sent a letter to EEOC Chair Andrea R. Lucas, appealing for a “Commissioner Charge” to prompt an investigation into Penguin Random House, LLC (PRH) under EEOC guidelines.

The AFL claims that PRH’s strategies for recruitment, hiring, promotion, and workforce development could potentially discriminate against prospective and current employees due to “race, color, sex, and national origin.” They argue that such practices contravene Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“It seems Penguin Random House is incorporating race and gender into its workforce strategies under the guise of ‘inclusive business practices’,” remarked Bobby Crossin, an attorney for America First Legal. “The Civil Rights Act prohibits corporate discrimination, regardless of how it’s branded.”

A range of books is showcased at Penguin Random House’s stand during the London Book Fair at the Olympia Exhibition Centre on March 12, 2025, in London, England, (John Keeble/Getty Images)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is tasked with enforcing federal laws against workplace discrimination based on characteristics such as race, sex, religion, and national origin. The agency holds the power to investigate allegations, request documentation from employers, and escalate issues to the Department of Justice.

America First Legal claims in its letter that PRH’s policies “appear to be designed to exclude white men,” arguing “this is unlawful.”

The letter points to PRH’s public-facing DEI materials, including a page titled “Our Approach to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion,” and a set of “five pillars” AFL says demonstrate the company’s use of protected characteristics in employment decisions. 

Penguin Random House publicly describes its hiring and workforce strategy as explicitly tied to demographic representation. On its website, the company says it is working to “cultivate a diverse workforce that represents the society we live in,” adding that it releases annual workforce demographic data to track progress.

Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial CEO for Spain, Portugal and Latin America, Nuria Cabuti, visits Penguin Random House’s new distribution center on the day of its inauguration on March 24, 2025, in Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. (David Zorrakino/Europa Press via Getty Images)

PRH also says it holds leaders accountable for implementing its “DEI vision,” including “setting goals” and “achieving results,” and that it integrates “DEI principles into talent development and retention efforts,” according to the company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion page.

The company also has a full-time executive vice president for “strategy for diversity, equity & inclusion” listed on their U.S. Board page.

AFL also cited PRH’s public reporting of workforce demographics, including a comparison of “white versus BIPOC employees,” and statements about hiring and leadership diversity. 

The letter quotes language attributed to PRH materials that includes: “The percentage of Black new hires is now beginning to trend upward after significant dips in 2022 and 2023. Overall, we have not yet achieved and maintained our new hire demographic goals, and the continued importance of our targeted recruitment and outreach efforts cannot be overstated.”

Visitors to the Leipzig Book Fair take a look around the Penguin Random House stand. Until March 30, 2025, 2,040 exhibitors from 45 countries will be presenting the new products of this book spring. The motto of this year’s fair is “Words move worlds.” This year’s guest country is Norway. (Hendrik Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images)

AFL further alleged PRH’s job postings include equal employment opportunity language while the company’s broader DEI materials “belie this rhetoric,” writing that PRH “maintains desired workforce demographics, compares White versus BIPOC representation, and promotes employment development through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Councils,” which AFL said the EEOC has warned “may violate federal law.”

In the letter, AFL asked the EEOC to investigate, among other things, how PRH “hold[s] leaders accountable for implementing PRH’s DEI vision,” how it “integrate[s] DEI principles into talent development and retention efforts,” whether it operates a “supplier diversity program,” and whether it operates employee resource groups “that exclude employees on the basis of protected characteristics or that limit opportunities to preferred races or sexes.”

According to a release from Publisher’s Weekly, Penguin Random House brought in more than $5B in 2024, with an 8.5% sales increase from 2023.

America First Legal concluded their letter by asking for the commission to take “appropriate enforcement action” if it determines any practices violate the law. Their filing does not address “the subject matter or content” PRH publishes, the letter said, but focuses on the company’s employment practices.

Fox News Digital reached out to the EEOC and Penguin Random House for comment and will update this story if responses are received.