Four New York City pension funds filed suit against AT&T on Tuesday, accusing the telecommunications giant of wrongfully blocking a shareholder proposal that would require disclosure of workforce demographics by race, ethnicity, and gender. The funds claim AT&T improperly invoked a recent SEC policy change that allows companies to exclude proposals when they have a "reasonable basis" to do so.

In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the pension funds argue that SEC regulations provide no justification for AT&T to prevent a vote on the proposal at its 2026 annual shareholder meeting. They seek to block the company from soliciting proxies that exclude their diversity disclosure request. According to the complaint, AT&T already submits this demographic breakdown annually to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and had publicly disclosed the information from 2021 through 2023 before abruptly stopping in 2024 without explanation.

The lawsuit comes amid broader corporate America's retreat from diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives following President Trump's crackdown on such efforts. AT&T joins hundreds of companies that have sought SEC assurances about excluding shareholder proposals, with the regulator historically granting permission about half the time. The case highlights growing tensions between shareholder rights and corporate governance in an evolving regulatory landscape.