March 26 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Michigan on

Wednesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing IBM ( IBM ) of forcing

out a white male consultant in order to further its goals of

building a more diverse workforce.

U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou in Lansing, Michigan, said

plaintiff Randall Dill's claims that IBM ( IBM ) set specific targets

for the racial and gender composition of its workforce and

offered financial incentives for his supervisors and other

executives to achieve them were enough to allow the case to move

forward.

"Taken as true, Dill's allegations plausibly support an

inference that IBM ( IBM ) improperly considers race or gender as a

factor in employment-related decisions," wrote Jarbou, who was

appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term.

Jarbou denied IBM's ( IBM ) motion to dismiss the 2024 lawsuit,

allowing the case to move toward trial.

IBM ( IBM ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Andrew Block of America First Legal, the conservative group

representing Dill, said: "We look forward to continuing to

litigate this case and fight for justice on behalf of our

client."

America First Legal was founded by Stephen Miller, a top

adviser to Republican President Donald Trump, and has filed a

series of lawsuits and complaints claiming companies' diversity

policies are unlawful. In one of those cases, a federal judge in

Los Angeles last year rejected CBS' motion to dismiss a white

screenwriter's claims that the network's diversity efforts led

it to deny him a staff position on the show "SEAL Team."

Trump has barred federal agencies and government contractors

from adopting workplace diversity, equity and inclusion policies

and has said his administration will investigate companies,

schools and nonprofits that implement them.

And the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which

enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws, has warned that

many common workforce DEI initiatives such as diversity training

may be unlawful.

Civil rights advocates say DEI initiatives are necessary to

remedy historic discrimination and for employers to comply with

anti-discrimination laws. Trump and his supporters claim

diversity policies are discriminatory and erode merit-based

decisionmaking.

Dill says he was placed on a performance improvement plan in

July 2023 despite receiving only positive feedback in his seven

years as a senior managing consultant at IBM ( IBM ). The plan was

impossible to complete and Dill was fired in 2023, according to

his complaint.

Dill says IBM ( IBM ) had race and sex quota systems that guided

hiring and promotion decisions and that it based executives'

bonuses in part on whether they had met those goals, giving them

a strong incentive to push out white men like him.

IBM ( IBM ) has said that it does not use hiring quotas and never

has, and that Dill's claims are baseless. In moving to dismiss

the lawsuit, the company argued that Dill had exaggerated the

scope of its incentive program for executives and had failed to

identify female or non-white coworkers who received preferential

treatment.

Jarbou on Wednesday said there was a plausible connection

between the incentive plan and Dill's firing, and that on a

motion to dismiss details about other workers were irrelevant.

"At this stage, Dill has provided enough facts to state

viable race and gender discrimination claims against IBM ( IBM )," she

wrote.

The case is Dill v. International Business Machines Corp ( IBM ),

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, No.

1:24-cv-00852.

For Dill: Andrew Block of America First Legal; Christopher

Berry of Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge

For IBM ( IBM ): Alison Furtaw of Dykema Gossett; David Foster of

Hogan Lovells; and Emily Petroski of Jackson Lewis

Read more:

IBM ( IBM ) fired white worker to fulfill diversity goals, lawsuit

claims

Ex-Trump aide's group files complaints over judges'

diversity pushes

Ex-Trump administration officials target corporate diversity

efforts

Despite Trump order, abandoning DEI could land companies in

legal trouble

What is DEI, a practice Trump is trying to dismantle?

CBS must face white screenwriter's lawsuit over diversity

policies

EEOC, signaling crackdown on DEI under Trump, says some

policies are illegal

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York)