A Vietnamese-American man who formerly worked at Bandai Namco is suing the publisher, claiming the company fired him after a number of discriminatory events took place, mainly focused on his race. The employee, who was named by MyNewsLA as Tony Le, named Bandai Namco’s American division in the suit, as well as a number of his bosses.
The suit’s list of allegations is long, including discrimination; harassment and retaliation based on race and national origin; failure to prevent discrimination; wrongful termination; failure to promote; and negligent hiring and supervision. He is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Le started working in Bandai Namco in 2010, being taken on as a senior business analyst, before quickly becoming a “top performer for Bandai with a proven track record,” but it was not long after this that the racism allegedly started, according to the suit. Le alleges he noticed a continuing ‘pattern and practice of disparate treatment’ against non-Japanese employees. Le and other employees who were not Japanese were subjected to verbal abuse in Japanese, condescending gestures and ‘obscene laughter,’ the suit alleges.
Le also says in his lawsuit that Bandai Namco denied him access to some important company information and was purposefully excluded from meetings and dinners because only Japanese employees were invited. Le goes on to say in his lawsuit that he spoke to Bandai Namco’s human resources department about his concerns, but he met resistance here, too. He was reportedly told to “remain silent” and was discouraged for lodging a formal, written complaint.He was officially let go from the company in March 2014.