Consulting giant Deloitte has agreed to pay the State of Florida $1.2 million to settle allegations that it used discriminatory hiring and promotion practices while certifying compliance with state anti-discrimination rules.
According to state officials, the firm factored race and sex into employment, promotion, and staffing decisions between roughly 2017 and early 2025 to meet internal demographic targets.
“It is against the law for government contractors to reward or penalize employees based on race or sex, and discrimination under DEI is still discrimination,” said Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. “Merit drives opportunity in Florida, not someone’s race or sex. This settlement makes it clear that illegal discrimination will not be tolerated by companies doing business with our state. We will continue to root out unlawful DEI practices wherever they appear.”
State investigators alleged that business units across Deloitte received monthly color-coded reports tracking workforce diversity targets. Progress was marked green for exceeding targets, yellow for slightly missing them, and red for falling significantly short.
The state also claimed that annual evaluations for senior leaders—including partners, principals, and managing directors—factored in how well they met these diversity goals.
Over a two-year period, around 150 top executives saw their compensation directly affected if their units missed demographic targets. Annual partner classes were also given specific race and gender quotas, and certain mentoring, educational, and leadership development programs were restricted based on race or sex.
These practices occurred while Deloitte held contracts with the State of Florida that required the company to certify it was providing equal opportunity to all workers and applicants without regard to race or sex.
The Florida agreement is part of a broader multi-agency settlement. Under the coordinated deal, Deloitte will also pay $21.5 million to the U.S. Department of Justice and about $1.2 million to the State of Indiana to settle similar claims brought under the federal False Claims Act and state laws.
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