Posted on September 10, 2021

American Express Engages in ‘Reverse Discrimination’ Against White People, Current and Former Employees Say

Tyler O'Neil, Fox News, September 9, 2021

Five current and former employees at American Express – speaking on condition of anonymity – told FOX Business that the credit card company singles out Black people for promotion in a practice that former employees described as reverse discrimination against White people.

The employees, none of whom were in human resources, did not present internal documents to demonstrate an official policy, but they said they witnessed a worrisome trend that raises questions about racial discrimination in promotion.

One former employee said they quit because the critical race theory trainings and the apparent promotion of employees due to skin color sent the message that White employees could not expect to even be considered for promotion. American Express denied this accusation in a statement.

The ex-employee said efforts to advance in the company were futile.

“I wanted to move up really bad. I did everything I was supposed to do in terms of trainings and extra work. I was on committees, going out of my way to be helpful, being a leader on team calls and national calls,” the employee told FOX Business. “I saw the writing on the wall: There’s no way I can get promoted because of the color of my skin.”

The workplace culture at American Express changed drastically in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the former employee said. First came politically charged CEO statements about various news events, then employee training sessions focused on “microaggressions” and “unconscious bias,” and then the employee recalled seeing racial minorities promoted far more than White people.

“Before this happened, they would tell you how you would move up. ‘These are the steps you would take,’ et cetera. No longer did that matter because all that matters now is the color of the candidate’s skin,” the former employee said. “I would see these emails showing who got promoted. I’d say nine times out of 10, it was a Black person in that role.”

“You’re told, ‘If you work hard enough and you do the right things, you can move up in this company.’ That’s no longer the case at American Express. They’re only promoting Black people,” the ex-employee said.

“This is reverse discrimination against White people.”

American Express categorically denied the accusation.

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Yet other current and former employees backed up the whistleblower.

“I do think that minorities are treated preferentially at American Express,” a former employee of mixed-race heritage told FOX Business. This ex-employee said that the company “would not allow a director to make any hiring decisions unless there were enough Black people in the candidate pool.”

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A current employee also told FOX Business that American Express has singled out Black employees for promotion, “first and foremost.” {snip}

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The current employee, who is also mixed race, told FOX Business that Amex caters to Black employees, and it only spends “a fraction of time on any other group.” They said this practice makes “colleagues that aren’t Black feel small or unwelcome. {snip}”

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A fourth American Express employee said they also got the impression that they would not be considered for promotion because they were White.

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Another former employee told FOX Business that “the vast majority” of the people they’d seen hired and promoted “have been Black.” {snip}

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