According to a former Nike executive he was the victim of racial discrimination and now he’s suing the company. And he wants $866,000 in financial and other damages including psychological harm.
Ahmer Inam was senior director of advanced analytics at Nike North America. He left the company in December 2018.
“The suit alleges that Inam, who is of Indian descent, was passed up for promotions, paid significantly less than his white counterparts and regularly subjected to unfair treatment by the company and his managers because of his race. His former managers—senior director of North America marketplace analytics Gail Cornelius and vp of global marketplace analytics Drew Carpenter—are also named in the suit,” Ad Age reported.
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Inam, who joined Nike in October 2015, led the formation of the advanced analytics division. He was responsible for building Nike’s first advanced analytics community, said the lawsuit, which was filed in the Circuit Court for Oregon’s Multnomah County.
When in August 2017 when Nike created a new analytics team overseen by Carpenter, Inam was “the only person of color reporting to Cornelius and one of two people of color working under Carpenter,” according to the suit. During this time Inam claimed he suffered a series of discriminatory incidents under these two managers, who are both white. The suit also charges that Inam was being paid significantly less than his white counterparts.
Nike isn’t talking but did release a statement to Ad Age that said: “We can’t comment on the recently filed complaint, but Nike is committed to creating a culture of empowerment and respect where everyone can succeed and contribute to our success.”
