Indian man sues PVH Far East for not granting promotion and firing him over racial discrimination

An Indian man filed a writ against PVH Far East Ltd to the District Court on Monday and accused the company of denying him a promotion and wrongly dismissing him because of racial discrimination. 

The Indian man is Gangadhar Bidadhi Rajashekaraiah. According to the writ, in Rajashekaraiah’s first 5.5 years of employment from October 2016 to May 2022, he worked in a team consisted of multiple national associates and received “exceeds expectations” on his annual appraisals twice. 

The writ said Rajashekaraiah was informed by his previous manager that he would take new responsibility as “woven cluster lead” in the newly created SVC Raw Material team. 

Rajashekaraiah then formally applied for the senior manager – raw material (woven) position under the SVC team, which at the time only consisted of associates from Hong Kong. 

Yet, at the very beginning of the interview, the hiring manager Rammy Lee criticized Rajashekaraiah “for seeking favoritism from his Indian race origin business executive-level leaders and previous manager.” 

The writ also said Lee made derogatory remarks that “his presence would create in a new raw material team of only Hongkongers.” 

When requested by Rajashekaraiah, the human resource department didn’t provide any interview feedback on non-selection. The department later told Rajashekaraiah that they “are under no legal or other obligation to do so.” 

Rajashekaraiah was then kept idle or assigned very low-importance data entry or follow-ups of end-phase accounts, while other team members were assigned essential key works of strategic and tactical importance. Rajashekaraiah was fired on July 17. 

Rajashekaraiah had approached the Equal Opportunities Commission when he was still employed full-time by the company. 

Rajashekaraiah now asks the court to rule that PVH Far East has engaged in unlawful conducts or acts under Cap 602 Race Discrimination Ordinance. 

He also wants the court to order the company to issue a written apology, to grant him the promotion, and to repay monthly salary of HK$77,870 effective from August 1 until reemployment or he gets a new job.