Long before Walmart’s November 2024 announcement that the big box behemoth was ending its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, another retail giant made moves to end its DEI efforts as well.
But unlike Walmart and Target, both of which have faced severe public backlash for their anti-DEI stances, Dollar General’s efforts have gone relatively unnoticed by the general public.
However, a federal court battle may change that.
Overview
On July 12, 2024, Dollar General, the largest retail brick-and-mortar chain in the contiguous U.S. and Mexico in terms of sales and number of stores (over 20,000), fired its now former Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Dr. Johné Battle. Since then, Dollar General’s website has removed all mention of its past DEI efforts.
Dollar General and Battle are currently embroiled in a federal lawsuit and countersuit in the midst of a nationwide DEI line in the sand being drawn. Nearly six months after Battle’s dismissal, major corporations like Walmart, Target, McDonald’s and Amazon publicly announced ending or scaling back their DEI efforts. However, Costco, Ben & Jerry’s, JP Morgan and others issued statements doubling down on their DEI support.
While this national “debate” rages, Dollar General has made no public statements about its position on the matter, though Battle’s countersuit contends his firing served as Dollar General’s statement on where it stands in the DEI conversation.
About Dr. Johné Battle
Before Battle began working at Dollar General in June 2020, he held leadership positions with several national and global entities, including Walmart.
Battle earned a doctorate in Work-Based Learning Leadership (Wharton School, UPenn), a Master of Education in Learning and Leadership (University of Pennsylvania) and an MBA in Organizational Behavior (Emory University’s Goizueta Business School).
By 2022, Battle earned a promotion to Dollar General’s C-Suite (Senior Vice President / Chief Diversity Officer). In addition to consistently earning positive performance reviews, DG slated Battle to lead additional nationwide company DEI initiatives in 2023 and 2024.
That is, until his July 12, 2024 termination.
About Dollar General
In the dollar store space, considered one of the most profitable and fastest-growing segments of retailing, Dollar General is the top dog, edging out Dollar Tree and Dollarama. According to Dollar General’s financial reports, the company’s revenue earned between Nov. 1, 2023 and Oct. 31, 2024 was $40.16 billion.
Dollar General boasts 20,000-plus U.S. locations, a workforce of over 170,000, and roughly 75,000 people of color.
Dollar General’s lawsuit
On Nov. 13, 2024, Dollar General filed a lawsuit against Battle (Dollar General Corporation v. Johne Battle). An excerpt from an article written by Law.com stated the following about that filing:
“The lawsuit, brought by Holland & Knight and McGuireWoods, accuses Battle of misappropriating Dollar General’s confidential, proprietary, and attorney-client privileged information to further his own independent consulting business.”
The lawsuit specifically states the following: “In violation of his employment agreements with Dollar General… Battle has taken Dollar General’s confidential, proprietary, trade secrets, and attorney-client privileged information. Battle only has access to and obtained such information because of his employment with Dollar General. Absent his employment with Dollar General, Battle would not have access to or knowledge of such information. Further, Battle has used and/or intends to use this confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information to further his own independent consulting business and interests, which constitutes a misappropriation of Dollar General’s trade secret information and a breach of duty of loyalty.”
According to the suit, Dollar General seeks to “prevent Battle’s further breach of his employment agreements by using unlawfully possessed confidential information belonging to Dollar General.”
Battle’s countersuit
Battle’s countersuit (Dr. Johne E. Battle v. Dollar General Corporation), filed Dec. 23, 2024, vehemently refutes Dollar General’s assertion. It contends Dollar General’s suit against Battle came as retaliation partly because of Battle’s unwillingness to sign a Dollar General release agreement requiring Battle to relinquish his right to sue.
Battle’s attorney, David A. Burkhalter II of The Burkhalter Law Firm, advised his client to reject signing the agreement which contained what Dollar General’s lawsuit described as a “generous severance payment.”
“As you know, [Battle] was a very highly compensated employee, and he has lost millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and stock as a result of the abrupt termination… Given the trumped-up reason for termination, it is also highly unlikely he will be able to find comparable employment,” stated Burkhalter in the countersuit court documents.
The assertion, in conjunction with other claims in the countersuit, suggests Dollar General wanted Battle to sign the release agreement to prevent him from publicly sharing data Battle uncovered revealing systemic inequities regarding pay, hiring, promotions and more when comparing Dollar General’s employees of color to the company’s white employees.
But the crux of the issue between Dollar General and Battle is about the conflicting assertions each side is making about why Battle was fired. Battle’s countersuit makes multiple accusations that speak directly to the national DEI conversation, including an assertion that a member of Dollar General’s senior leadership regularly used the term “nigger pile” while discussing her personal exposure to “diversity.”
“The real reason for Dr. Battle’s wrongful termination was due to his race and/or due to his oppositional activities in opposing and trying to correct systemic and institutionalized discrimination,” reads Battle’s countersuit, which in essence asserts Battle was terminated for doing the tasks for which he was hired and promoted.
“In my prior work at Dollar General, my goal was to always try to level the playing field so that underrepresented talent could get a fair shot at intentional development that would place them in the talent pool of consideration for career advancement,” said Battle, who filed the suit on behalf of Dollar General’s 75,000 employees of color. “Unfortunately, as the facts in the counter-claim show, those efforts were met with resistance from a leadership team that was not willing to acknowledge the barriers that my research revealed or support steps to remove the barriers.”
Battle’s suit claims Dollar General sought to distance itself from its DEI efforts to avoid information Battle uncovered revealing Dollar General’s alleged history of discriminatory actions in hiring, promotions and pay to its employees of color while presenting a pro-diversity public face.
“During his employment at Dollar General, Dr. Battle discovered and documented systematic institutionalized discrimination, including on the basis of race throughout Dollar General’s management and officer ranks,” reads Battle’s countersuit.
The alleged discrimination included, but was not limited to inequalities in pay, treatment, development, career opportunities, retention efforts and promotional opportunities.
Battle’s countersuit contends his research “revealed the clear contrast with how people of color were treated versus white employees throughout every level in Dollar General.”
The legal filing also contends Battle’s documentation was shared multiple times with Dollar General’s highest-ranking officers and board members in multiple settings and forms.
However, Battle’s lawsuit asserts, “CEO, Todd Vasos, and Dr. Battle’s supervisor, Chief People Officer, Kathleen Reardon, made it clear that they wanted Dr. Battle to downplay and cover up the extent of the discrimination proven by the documentation because they felt it would trigger the Board of Directors and force the Board to make systemic changes that would hold leaders – the vast majority of whom were white – accountable.”
For them, Battle’s countersuit requests that the court order Dollar General to “cease and desist from engaging in discriminatory acts” and that Dollar General leaders undergo anti-discrimination training.
Culture
Additional assertions in Battle’s legal filing suggest Dollar General possesses a culture that is, at best, indifferent to diversity and, at worst, hostile towards it.
Battle’s filing cites Reardon, Dollar General’s chief people officer, sharing with multiple Dollar General audiences the story of her introduction to diversity where she repeatedly used the phrase “nigger pile.”
Battle’s suit also contends Reardon displayed ongoing cultural insensitivity, reportedly informing a room of 400 Dollar General HR employees not to refer to Battle as “Dr. Battle.”
Battle’s immediate, on-stage response was to explain to Reardon that individuals from certain cultures were raised to address people by their professional titles as a sign of respect.
One current and one former Dollar General employee, both persons of color, initially committed to being interviewed to verify the claims made in Battle’s countersuit. However, both eventually declined to be interviewed, citing fear of potential retaliations and professional harm if their names were revealed.
Battle’s lawsuit also asserts that Dollar General’s senior leadership was swayed by rising national anti-woke sentiments to retreat from DEI initiatives.
Repeated attempts were made to secure an interview with Dollar General’s senior leadership or for the company to provide an official statement regarding Battle’s allegations. However, Dollar General did not provide either at the time of this article’s publication.
