Former Employee Of IBM Subsidiary Sues Company For Anti-White, Anti-Male Discrimination

A former Senior Director at Red Hat, Allan Kingsley Wood, has filed a lawsuit against the IBM subsidiary claiming he faced race and gender discrimination due to the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program. The lawsuit, filed by America First Legal (AFL), alleges that Red Hat’s DEI initiatives involved setting hiring goals for women and minorities.

According to the suit, Red Hat began implementing new diversity requirements in 2021 and hired a Chief Executive Officer of DEI to lead these efforts. AFL claims the company stated its DEI initiatives would impact hiring decisions.

Wood, a white male, allegedly voiced his opposition to the company’s DEI policies and advocated for hiring based on merit and skill. The lawsuit claims that Red Hat announced DEI goals involving “quotas” at a kickoff event in Texas aiming “to remake its workforce demographic, seeking to reach 30% women globally and 30% associates of color in the United States by 2028.”

Two weeks after the event, Wood was informed that his role was being eliminated along with 21 other employees, the vast majority of whom were also white and male, according to the lawsuit. The complaint also alleges that Wood was retaliated against for expressing his beliefs by cutting short his approved leave under the Family Medical Leave Act to terminate his employment.

AFL’s lawsuit comes after investigative journalist James O’Keefe’s OMG Media Group revealed footage of IBM CEO Arvind Krishna discussing the company’s DEI goals and their impact on executive bonuses. Wood is seeking compensation as well as an injunction against Red Hat’s DEI program.

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