The suit cites “anti-racism” policies.
QUICK FACTS:
- A former employee for American Express is suing the company for its “anti-racism” policies put in place during the George Floyd riots.
- The class-action suit began with Brian Netzel and centers around the company’s alleged “callous indifference” to civil rights laws by terminating an employee.
- According to the suit, the white employee was terminated because he spoke out against the company’s racially discriminatory policies.
- The former employee told journalists that he is suing on behalf of himself and possibly thousands of other employees.
- Netzel said the summer of 2020 saw “an avalanche of bad things coming to White people in that company once George Floyd was killed.”
DETAILS FROM THE COMPLAINT:
- Netzel alleged in his complaint that he believed the origin of the policies was at the top of the company, recalling that CEO Stephen Squeri reportedly engaged in “what amounted to an emotional tirade against police, against systemic racism in the U.S. and within American Express.”
- According to the plaintiff, the company treated its white employees in a disparaging way, forced them to undergo training, and told them to treat their black co-workers differently.
BACKGROUND:
- There have been other instances of similar cases, including a legal battle in late 2021 in which a former top executive at a North Carolina-based health care system won $10 million in a legal battle over his claim that he lost his job because he is a white man.
- Starbucks was sued in 2019 for discriminating against white employees after a white female employee proved her claim to the court’s satisfaction that she was unfairly punished to appease protesters.
