Estée Lauder employees petition to oust family board member

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Jun 9, 2020

Politics and beauty are at play as Estée Lauder staff petition to oust Ronald Lauder, a board member and a son of the company’s founders, over his support for President Donald Trump. 

In a letter to chairman William Lauder shared last week, Estée Lauder employees said that it believed that Ronald’s support for President Donald Trump was damaging to the beauty company. 

“Ronald Lauder is a visible supporter of both Donald Trump, and the Estée Lauder Companies. Ronald Lauder’s involvement with the Estée Lauder Companies is damaging to our corporate values, our relationship with the Black community, our relationship with this company’s Black employees, and this company’s legacy,” the letter on change.org stated. 

The petition follows nationwide protests over systemic racism and police brutality. The movement has also seen an outpour of social media support including from a range of brands across industries; Estée Lauder included. 

The beauty company announced it would donate $1 million to "organizations providing education and advocacy for social, economic and racial justice.”

As part of the petition from employees, it equally asked the Estée Lauder Companies to increase its donation from $1 million to $5 million. 

Ronald, the son of the company’s founders Estée and Joseph Lauder, joined the Estée Lauder board of directors in 2016. He is a known Republican supporter, having donated more than $1.6 million in political contributions to pro-Trump organizations in 2018 alone, according to federal disclosures.

In response, Estée Lauder told employees it would speed up a review of its policies with a commitment to tackle racial injustice. 

As of Monday, the petition had over 5,000 signatures with the goal of reaching 7,500.