Mark Cuban Lawsuit Over DEI

I don't think a lawsuit has happened yet but Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is catching heat over his comments on DEI.

 

After sorting things out from that news report. It sounds like they are saying that based on how Mark Cuban describes his hiring practices he will make it easier for someone to hit him with a lawsuit/investigation.

That's why that lady from the EEOC strongly disagreed with how Cuban said he took race and sex into account when hiring people. Someone who thinks they were discriminated against by Mark Cuban could use his DEI comments against him.

 

Unless it's part of a class action, there is almost no chance of an individual plaintiff or complainant prevailing against a large employer. Mark Cuban is an outspoken and opinionated rich guy, but unless a specific action is overtly discriminatory or some insider actually said in a document such as an internal memo or e-mail message that race or sex was the deciding factor, the aggrieved individual has almost no chance of success under US or Texas law. It's just too expensive and time-consuming.

Not many people have the $100,000 - $200,000 that they would need to spend in legal expenses just to get to an initial trial. It also may take 3 years, and most people, after being denied employment or being terminated, simply want to get on with their lives. If it's a matter of being denied promotion or being harassed on a prohibited basis, filing a complaint or lawsuit against your employer makes the individual an enemy of the organization (sure retaliation is prohibited, so people will be coached carefully once you file), so it is going to end your relationship with the organization, and you'll end up moving on in one way or another.

Many think that bad press, airing dirty laundry in public, is enough to get a large employer to settle, but it doesn't work that way. There is so much unpleasantness and tragedy in the world that no one will notice a brief mention in the news, if you can even get a reporter interested and a news organization to publish something. Very rarely do such things take off or capture the public's attention, and companies know that.

As for Cuban, he's used to bad press and views it as just part of the game when one is seeking as much public attention as he is.

I'd like to be more optimistic that the individual has a chance against Mark Cuban and his business interests, but I'm being realistic and commenting from experience here.