Former Fannie Mae employees who were fired in April are suing the government-sponsored mortgage company, alleging they were discriminated against based on their national origin and age.
A total of 66 people are named as plaintiffs in the complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — all of whom are U.S. citizens of Indian descent, and most of whom are over the age of 50 and speak the Telugu language.
On April 8, Fannie Mae announced in a press release that it had fired more than 100 employees for what the company alleged was “unethical conduct,” including the “facilitation of fraud.”
The complaint claims that on April 3, at least 80 people of Indian national origin were summoned to a Microsoft Teams call and told their employment was being immediately terminated for alleged fraudulent activity related to Fannie Mae’s charitable giving program.
“In response to a request for reconsideration subsequently made by Plaintiffs, Fannie Mae said that Plaintiffs had made gifts that they knew or should have known violated their policy, or that they knew that other employees had made gifts that Plaintiffs knew or should have known violated their policy,” the court filing states. “No explanation of individual conduct was ever given to any Plaintiff.”
The court filing also states that all charities involved in the employees’ charitable contributions supported Indian national, ethnic and cultural programs, and that “to this day, Fannie Mae has still provided no evidence to support their claims of fraud against any of Plaintiffs, jointly or severally.”
Fannie Mae did not immediately respond to Scotsman Guide’s request for comment.
The community engagement section of Fannie Mae’s website says the company encourages employees to “contribute to a cause or organization of their choice through employee giving,” adding that “employees can double the financial impact of their eligible donations through our Matching Gifts program up to a maximum of $5,000 annually.”
In an April 9 interview on Fox News, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte, whose agency oversees Fannie Mae, claimed that some of the recently fired employees had been “getting kickbacks,” though it is unclear which specific employees he was referring to.
“We found that they were making donations to the charity and then they were getting kickbacks,” Pulte said.
That same day, three members of Congress, led by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., sent a letter to Pulte and Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar requesting more information on the circumstances surrounding the firings. It contained a link to the joint FHFA and Fannie Mae press release issued April 8 announcing the terminations.
“Based on the available evidence, we are concerned that participation in the Matching Gift Program or donations to specific Indian American organizations may have been used as a pretext to make indiscriminate cuts to Fannie Mae’s workforce and to tarnish employees’ reputations with allegations of fraud without an investigation,” the letter stated.
The complaint filed this week states that each plaintiff filed a separate complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and received a “right to sue letter” in response.
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial and are seeking reinstatement of employment; payment of lost wages; payout of accrued vacation time; compensation for “emotional suffering and humiliation”; and payment of additional punitive damages or liquidated damages.
