A lawsuit filed by a white former employee of Tech Mahindra Ltd’s US subsidiary, alleging discrimination against non-South Asian workers, has been revived by a US appeals court. The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision, stated that the judge who dismissed Lee Williams’ proposed class action in 2020 used an incorrect standard to determine that he had not sufficiently alleged a violation of federal civil rights law.
The case was initially dismissed in 2021 by US District Judge Brian Martinotti in Newark, who stated that Williams had not made a discrimination claim and had also delayed filing the lawsuit. The judge further mentioned that an exception for plaintiffs who had previously sought to participate in a different class action did not apply in this case.
Williams appealed the dismissal of his lawsuit, and the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Judge Martinotti’s ruling. The panel stated that Martinotti did not address Williams’ argument that the time window to file the lawsuit should have been extended because he initially sought to sue in the wrong forum, North Dakota, instead of his home state of New Jersey. The case was sent back to Martinotti to consider this argument and apply the correct standard in determining whether Williams had a valid claim under Section 1981.
The lawsuit, filed in 2020 in a New Jersey federal court, accuses Tech Mahindra of violating Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Williams alleges that the company discriminates against employees who are not of South Asian descent in areas such as hiring, promotions, and terminations. Williams claims that he was terminated in 2015 for not meeting sales goals, while South Asian employees with similar performance records were retained.
According to court filings, Tech Mahindra’s US subsidiary has over 5,000 employees, with approximately 90% of them being of South Asian descent.
