A prominent executive at a large Silicon Valley tech firm has filed a $20 million lawsuit accusing the company of anti-Asian bias and discrimination.
Andre Wong said laser tech giant Lumentum in San Jose has a bias that hurt him personally and professionally.
Wong spent 20 years at Lumentum and, according to his lawsuit, helped create and develop a product line combining 3D and facial recognition that generated about $1 billion in revenue. But Wong said from that point he was layered under mainly white managers.
"I would be training my new managers and oddly my managers would be usually not from the industry or not familiar with that business," he said. "That’s why I had to do all the training."
Wong said his treatment was often demeaning, including a one-on-one conversation with a senior executive.
"Rather than responding to what I was talking about, he just said, 'Andre, you’re mispronouncing program. You weren’t enunciating your 'r,'" Wong said. "I was shocked. Number one, I’m a native English speaker and I’ve never been told that I have any pronunciation problems. Secondly, there was so many other things to talk about."
NBC Bay Area reached out to Lumentum for comment but did not immediately hear back.
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Wong said he heard similar stories from AAPI colleagues and started an Asian resource group.
Over time, tension escalated, and he was laid off.
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"I was one of the first, if not the first, Asian Americans to be so vocal about Asian American discrimination and representation," Wong said. "That was something that was not well received."
Wong’s attorney, Charles Jung, acknowledged bias claims can be tough to prove.
"Andre was vocal about pushing for Asian American equality, reporting the fact of anti-Asian discrimination," Jung said. "People, I think, at a gut level understand the proximity between complaints and adverse employment actions."
Jung said it appears details of Wong’s allegations and any company explanations will have to play out in court.
