Danaher Sued by Pension Fund to Add Racial Diversity to Board

Danaher Corp. is the latest U.S. company caught in the cross hairs of a new weapon of the resurgent social-justice movement: investor lawsuits demanding minority representation on boards of directors.

The complaint against the $148 billion medical equipment giant is different because it was filed by an institutional investor, the pension fund of Pontiac, Michigan, a majority-Black suburb of Detroit.

Oracle Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. were targeted in suits filed earlier this year in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis which sparked nationwide protests, but those cases were lodged by individual shareholders.

While street activists ...