Accenture to Pay $25 Million in Federal Job-Bias Settlement

An exterior view of the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse in Alexandria, Va., on Sept. 25, 2025. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Accenture, a global professional services company, has agreed to pay $25 million to settle Justice Department claims it used race and sex in hiring and promotions while certifying on federal contracts that it does not discriminate.

The payment covers Accenture Federal Services, Accenture plc and, Accenture LLP, which operate under the Accenture brand. Federal contracts require contractors to certify that they will not discriminate by race or sex and will treat applicants and employees “without regard to” those categories. Prosecutors say Accenture Federal Services, known as AFS, kept making that certification from 2017 on while its hiring and promotion practices did the opposite.

The Monday agreement with the Justice Department is part of the Trump administration’s second-term drive against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at companies that receive federal funds. The White House says DEI amounts to race- and sex-based preferences and has ordered contractors to drop it. Civil rights groups say the programs were meant to close gaps for women and minorities.

AFS did not immediately return a request for comment.

In May 2025 the Justice Department launched a Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that treats false anti-discrimination certifications as False Claims Act violations.

“Federal contractors have a straightforward obligation: make employment decisions without regard to race or sex,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. “A company cannot take taxpayer dollars, certify that it is following that simple principle, and then use race or sex as a factor in deciding who gets an opportunity.”

The government says AFS tracked unpublished workforce targets. Managers received monthly scorecards that marked each race and sex share green, yellow, or red, depending on how close a unit was to its goal. Those colors, prosecutors say, shaped hiring. At the end of 2020 and start of 2021, AFS ran an entry-level hiring round aimed at closing a perceived racial-representation gap.

Promotions followed the same pattern, the department said. Candidates who would move the demographic numbers got a separate review and extra attention from the people who voted. Some lists used color to mark those names. AFS also kept a second promotion “pipeline” chosen for the same reason. From August 2022 to February 2025 it ran an Amplify to Elevate program, which reserved seats by race and, prosecutors said, was meant to advance employees of certain racial categories over others. Some training and mentoring programs were limited by race or sex as well, they said.

“Opportunity and promotion in the workplace must be earned through merit,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said. “Today’s resolution makes unmistakably clear that the Department will continue to aggressively pursue unconstitutional discriminatory employment practices.”

Accenture denied it discriminated and said the deal is not an admission of liability.

“We have cooperated with the government’s review, and we are pleased to put this matter behind us to avoid the costs and resource demands of prolonged litigation,” a spokesperson told Reuters. The Justice Department said the claims are allegations only and that there has been no finding of liability.

Separately, Accenture has faced contract cuts at the Pentagon. In April 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered an end to a Defense Health Agency consulting contract with Accenture, Deloitte, and others, saying civilian staff could do the work. An Air Force cloud-resale contract with Accenture was on the same list. Those cancellations were framed as spending cuts, not as part of the discrimination case.

The settlement is the latest government action targeting large consulting firms that hold federal contracts.