Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, HOUSE NEWS—Led by Rep. Gill, task force seeks records from McKinsey & Company in DEI inquiry, (Aug 18, 2026)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

The task force seeks to test the validity of McKinsey’s DEI research and its role in shaping hiring and governance policies across corporate America.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee's “Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses,” announced that he has launched an investigation into consulting group McKinsey & Company over its research promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in corporate America.

The investigation focuses on four McKinsey reports published between 2015 and 2023—Why Diversity Matters (2015), Delivering Through Diversity (2018), Diversity Wins (2020), and Diversity Matters Even More (2023)—which argued companies with greater racial and gender diversity in leadership are more likely to achieve stronger financial performance.

Unable to replicate? According to Gill, the reports have been widely cited by publicly traded companies, investment managers, banks, and proxy advisory firms to justify diversity-related hiring, promotion, and governance policies. However, he alleges that outside researchers have been unable to replicate McKinsey’s findings.

In a letter to McKinsey’s Global Managing Partner, Gill requested documents and communications related to the datasets, methodologies, and academic review processes used to develop the firm's DEI reports. He said the task force is seeking to determine whether the research accurately supports the conclusions that have influenced workplace policies across the United States.

Gill alleges that the outside researchers have suggested the reports may have incorrectly attributed business success to diversity rather than identifying a correlation between successful companies and diverse workforces. The lawmaker further argues that DEI-driven employment practices have contributed to significant economic costs and may conflict with federal prohibitions against discrimination based on race or sex.

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