- within Antitrust/Competition Law and Insurance topic(s)
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) has settled a Title VII case filed by a Black employee. Olumide Adefemi claims that the PBGC discriminated against him based on race when it passed him over for a promotion. The case is Adefemi v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Case Number 1:24-cv-02214, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Adefemi, a division head in the corporate controls and reviews department (CCRD), filed his suit against PBGC in July 2024 after applying for the CCRD lead position. He alleged that the PBGC discouraged him from doing so. An HR staff member initially told him that he was one of the most qualified candidates, but that the interview process could take up to three months. Ultimately, HR refused to interview him, hired a less qualified white woman for the position only a few days later, and retracted its previous characterization of Adefemi as a top candidate, stating that he didn’t meet specialized experience requirements.
The PBGC had placed the woman in a newly-created deputy director position before the previous director retired, which Adefemi claimed gave her an advantage in the application process. However, despite her position, the woman gained no experience because Adefemi continued to handle all tasks related to CCRD’s internal control work. Adefemi further claimed that he was passed over for the promotion because he had filed an internal complaint about racial discrimination against the previous director.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) created the PBGC to protect the benefits of over 31 million workers participating in private-sector defined benefit pension plans.
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