AMERICAN EXPRESS CO

In August 2022, Brian Netzel, a former American Express client manager with over 10 years at the company, filed a class action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona (Case No. 2:2022cv01423) alleging race discrimination, racial harassment, retaliation, and constructive discharge under Title VII. Netzel and subsequent plaintiffs allege American Express implemented policies to hire and maintain a percentage of Black employees comparable to the U.S. population and incentivized executives to decrease the percentage of white employees in their departments. Three additional plaintiffs joined the class action alleging that American Express subjected white employees to racially discriminatory policies that fostered a hostile work environment. The court granted American Express's motion to compel arbitration, and the case is stayed pending arbitration. Separately, a Business Insider investigation documented that senior managers at American Income Life — an American Express subsidiary — exchanged racist, sexist, and transphobic text messages between 2014 and 2019.