By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) – A conservative U.S. legal group on Tuesday accused the National Football League (NFL) and its teams of engaging in discrimination through its influential “Rooney Rule,” which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for coaching and executive positions.
America First Legal, which was founded by former Trump administration officials, filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging that the Rooney Rule amounts to unlawful race bias under federal law.
The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Rooney Rule was first adopted in 2003 and has served as a template for businesses, including many leading law firms, looking to implement diversity policies.
“However pure its intention, the fact is that the Rooney Rule cannot stand up to legal scrutiny,” Ian Prior, a lawyer with America First Legal, said in the complaint.
The complaint, which asks the EEOC to investigate the league and its 32 teams, also calls out two other NFL programs designed to build diverse pipelines of job candidates.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Daniel Wallis)
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