A white man and Iraq War veteran is suing a major U.S. bank, alleging he was sidelined in favor of less qualified candidates in an aggressive diversity hiring campaign.
Chris Smith says Ally Financial ignored his 20 years of experience in security and intelligence work and gave a former Walmart employee the job she wanted because she was a woman.
He landed a junior position in the North Carolina office, but then was sidelined by a boss who criticized “white supremacy,” was treated unfairly and ended up resigning within weeks, he says.
it’s the last lawsuit of America First Legal (AFL), a campaign group led by former Trump administration officials, fighting against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the United States.
DEI advocates say it helps more women and minorities enter colleges and the workplace, but critics say it ends up hurting straight white men.
Chris Smith was only offered the most junior job on Ally’s threat team despite his decades of experience.
Ally Financial, an $8 billion-a-year bank holding company based in Detroit, Michigan, did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
“Federal law is clear: non-discrimination means non-discrimination,” said AFL lawyer Gene Hamilton.
“No American should face discrimination based on race or sex, and we will fight to achieve justice for our client.”
The case was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
Smith, a former Marine Corps and Army intelligence officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and has two decades of security experience, applied for three positions in Ally’s newly created ‘threat division’ unit in 2023.
He was offered and accepted the lowest-paying position as a security analyst, earning about $75,000 a year.
Ally hired Rachel Stuckey, a white woman who had worked for the previous four years at Walmart, as the team manager.
Stuckey also had a year of experience in counterterrorism work in Israel.
Smith says Stuckey was hired “because of her sex” so the bank could meet DEI goals.
It is alleged that Ally also hired a less qualified black woman and a black man in senior analyst roles above Smith, despite her greater experience.
Once he started working in the Charlotte office in September 2023, Smith says he faced increased discrimination.
According to him, he was not given proper credit for his work.
His teammates were sent to training courses, could work from home and got parking spots near the office, but Smith was not.
He was also mistreated by Ally director Bruce Bellamy, who was “obsessed with DEI,” court documents state.
Smith says he had to work five days a week at Ally’s Charlotte office when his coworkers were allowed to operate remotely.
Ally Has Aggressive Diversity Hiring Goals, America First Legal Documents Show
Allied chief Bruce Bellamy says the bank’s most serious threats were “white supremacists, anti-DEI groups and anti-woke groups”, it is claimed.
Bellamy said the bank’s most serious security threats were “white supremacists, anti-DEI groups and anti-woke groups.”
When Smith disagreed, the chief “was especially offended that a white man was questioning his views,” it states.
Bellamy and Stuckey “isolated Smith from other Ally employees, refused to give him credit for his work product, and imposed substantial obstacles to his ability to perform his job duties, harming his performance,” the papers say.
AFL Lawyer Gene Hamilton
The “differential and negative treatment…was motivated by Smith’s race and sex,” they add.
Smith resigned on September 18 and has struggled to find paid work ever since.
The 20-page lawsuit says Ally violated the racial and sexual protections of the Civil Rights Act.
Smith is seeking a jury trial, compensation and payment of his legal costs.
Ally did not comment on the lawsuit.
The company has a strict DEI policy and says it works hard to build a “diverse and talented team.”
It’s almost evenly split between men and women, Ally says.
“We increased or maintained the representation of women and people of color in our management and senior roles, and redesigned programs to create more opportunities for people new to their roles at the company,” Ally said in a recent report.
The case is part of a growing number of lawsuits and filings against DEI practices since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark June 2023 ruling to end affirmative action in college admissions.
The AFL, led by President Donald Trump’s former adviser Stephen Miller, has filed more than 15 lawsuits and more than 30 complaints with a US civil rights agency.
Lawsuits have claimed that hiring and recruiting decisions made regarding jobs and scholarships at large companies are biased against white workers.
“Large corporations across America have … programs and policies that blatantly discriminate against American citizens precisely because of the things they cannot control,” the AFL’s Hamilton said.
Proponents of DEI schemes say they attract more black, brown, female and queer talent to offices and universities and boost morale across the board.
But critics say they are an exercise in “woke” virtue signaling that encourages discrimination against straight white men.