Northwestern Mutual Urges Court to Nix DEI-Focused EEOC Subpoena

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., caught in a chicken-or-the-egg discrimination investigation battle with the EEOC, argued a federal judge should block a subpoena because employment regulators couldn’t point to a specific unlawful diversity policy worth investigating.

The fight centers on an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission effort to peek into the Milwaukee-based finance and insurance giant’s diversity practices based on a former anti-money laundering officer’s allegation that he was passed over for a vice president role in favor of a female candidate and retaliated against for complaining about DEI—diversity, equity, and inclusion—policies.

Northwestern Mutual argued that this was the first case ...