Fired Fannie Mae workers sue over discrimination

Dozens of former Fannie Mae employees filed a lawsuit this week, alleging discrimination after being abruptly fired in April over donations made through the government-sponsored enterprise’s charitable program. 

The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims that on April 2, more than 80 employees received an email from human resources. It instructed them not to report to the office and instead join a call, where they were informed their employment was being terminated for violating Fannie Mae’s “Charitable Giving” policy.

Fannie Mae didn’t immediately responded to HousingWire’s request for comments. 

According to the complaint, all individuals on the call were of Indian national origin, with nearly all speaking Telugu — a language spoken by a large ethnic group in India. All but a handful were over the age of 40 and most were over the age of 50, the lawsuit states.

Fannie Mae alleges the terminations stemmed from employees knowingly or negligently violating its donation-matching program. Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) who also chairs the boards of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, posted an official announcement about the firings on social media platform X when they happened.

“In President Trump’s housing market, there is no room for fraud, mortgage fraud, or any other deceitful act that can jeopardize the safety and soundness of the housing industry,” Pulte said at the time.

“Since my swearing-in, we fired over 100 employees from Fannie Mae who we caught engaging in unethical conduct, including facilitating fraud, against our great company. Anyone who commits fraud against Fannie Mae does so against the American people.”

But the plaintiffs argue they were fired without notice, due process or a clear explanation, despite reportedly making donations to approved nonprofit organizations.

The complaint also notes that all of the organizations supported Indian cultural, ethnic or national causes, and they were listed as eligible for donation matching through Fannie Mae’s internal system.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Milton C. Johns, of Executive Law Partners PLLC, said in a statement that the former employees were all U.S. citizens of Indian national origin working across the company, many of them “for a decade or more with a spotless employment record.”

“No single donation exceeded $5,000 and many donations date back as far as 2018,” Johns stated. “Some Plaintiffs made only one donation for which they were terminated. They were identified for termination solely on the basis of making a donation to these charities.”

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a “right to sue” letter to the former employees, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

The plaintiffs are seeking reinstatement, back pay, severance, accrued vacation and compensation for emotional distress and damages. They are also requesting a jury trial.