Apple Board Members Say Diversity Proposal is “Unduly Burdensome”

In a proxy statement published recently, Apple’s board recommends that investors vote against the diversity proposal, calling it “unduly burdensome” (via CNN Money).

Earlier, in December, Bloomberg reported that Apple shareholders might force the company to increase the number of non-white executives and directors in 2016. The proposal – the topic of the shareholder meeting scheduled for February 28, 2016 – was submitted by an investor living in New York and London.

Antonio Avian Maldonado proposed that Apple accelerate its recruitment policy to change the company’s organizational makeup.

While the Board believes that diversity is critical to innovation and essential to Apple’s future, the company’s efforts go beyond the “accelerated recruitment policy” requested by the proposal, which focuses only on Apple’s senior management and Board of Directors.

Instead, Apple’s approach fosters diversity across the company today and invests in initiatives for the future, the statement reads and then points to Apple’s partners in the matter, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, President Obama’s ConnectED initiative, and that it has sponsored the 2015 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, among others.

While sharing the commitment for diversity, the Board recommends that investors vote against the proposal, because it is “unduly burdensome and not necessary, and because Apple has already demonstrated to shareholders its commitment to inclusion and diversity, which are core values for our company,” the Board concludes.