The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the world’s largest HR organization, has been hit with an $11.5 million ruling after a former employee accused the group of racial discrimination and retaliation.

A Colorado jury found SHRM liable on Dec. 5, 2025, and awarded $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages to Rehab Mohamed, Business Insider (BI) reports.

“We are very happy that the jury spent a week listening very closely to the evidence and that they decided, as a result, to hold SHRM accountable,” said Mohamed’s attorney, Ariel DeFazio, per BI.

The verdict will “send a message to workplaces in the entire country,” she added.

The Reason Behind SHRM’s Employee Lawsuit

Mohamed, who worked as an instructional designer from 2016 to 2020, filed her lawsuit against SHRM in 2022. She accused a white supervisor of racial discrimination and claimed SHRM retaliated after she reported the behavior, per BI.

Mohamed said she repeatedly raised concerns about the issues in the summer of 2020, including with SHRM CEO Johnny C. Taylor Jr. and the organization’s head of human resources (HR).

“The optics are bad because they’ve held themselves out as an authority on best practices,” said employment attorney Alice K. Jump (partner at Reavis Page Jump), according to BI.

During his Dec. 4 testimony, CEO Taylor said he played no role in Mohamed’s termination. Mike Jackson, a former SHRM employee, testified that he handled Mohamed’s complaint — reportedly the only discrimination case he ever investigated.

SHRM previously asked the court to bar Mohamed from introducing evidence or arguments regarding SHRM’s expertise in HR best practices — a request U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher rejected. Gallagher noted that SHRM’s asserted HR expertise “is integral to the circumstances of this case” and couldn’t be reasonably excluded, per BI.

Taylor testified that SHRM advises HR professionals on best practices, including how to investigate discrimination and retaliation complaints, and that it maintains its own curricula for conducting such investigations.

Pre-trial discovery also revealed two other discrimination complaints involving SHRM employees — one filed in 2018, which was settled, and another filed in 2021, which is pending, notes BI. The HR giant has denied wrongdoing in both cases.

SHRM Responds To $11.5M Verdict

SHRM has repeatedly denied Mohamed’s allegations and said it plans to appeal the verdict, according to BI.

“Today’s decision does not reflect the facts, the law, or the truth of how SHRM operates,” SHRM said in a statement, BI reports. “We have acted with integrity, transparency, and in full alignment with our values and obligations.”