She flagged a hostile team lead to HR. Then training stalled and a PIP arrived
A former employee of Tempus AI, Inc. has sued the Illinois-based company in federal court, alleging that her complaints to human resources about a hostile work environment triggered a months-long campaign of retaliation that pushed her out the door.
The complaint, filed on May 1, 2026, in the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, was brought by Aisha B. Doumouya, a Black woman who worked at Tempus AI as a Lab Operation Associate and later a Molecular Technologist between February 2024 and September 2025. She alleges race and sex discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation, and constructive discharge under Title VII. Tempus AI employs roughly 2,400 people, according to the filing.
Doumouya says she received an "Exceeding Expectations" performance rating in March 2025. A month earlier, the filing alleges, she had reported to two named HR representatives, Mirna Maldonado and Giselle Duran, that her team lead, Casey Normyle, was creating a hostile work environment by bad-mouthing her to colleagues. According to the complaint, HR tried to push her into mediation with the team lead despite her objection.
What followed, the filing alleges, was an escalation. Her training was stalled for an entire month immediately after her February complaint, while other employees were trained on schedule. The complaint says she was placed under intensified scrutiny and that her performance reviews were padded with "false or meritless" complaints. In April 2025, the company issued her a final warning, the filing says, despite her recent rating and no prior progressive discipline.
The Performance Improvement Plan allegations are the centerpiece of the filing. Doumouya alleges that in August 2025, two managers, Jishen Pan and Ravi Vasireddy, tried to make her sign a PIP without giving her a chance to read it. When she refused, the complaint says, they detained her about 30 minutes past her shift and told her she could not leave without signing. A separate meeting with a previous Associate Director, Kenneth Hall, allegedly followed in what she describes as another attempt to coerce her signature. The PIP, she alleges, contained false or exaggerated claims, including that she had not completed experiments - work she says she had in fact finished by staying in the lab for seven straight hours.
Shortly before her resignation, the filing says, Doumouya saw the team lead make a racist remark to three colleagues, who laughed. She reported it to HR. According to the complaint, HR responded "belatedly," and the team lead - who, per the filing, had a prior writeup for racism - received a raise and a promotion afterward.
Doumouya resigned on September 26, 2025. Her unemployment claim was later approved on findings of constructive dismissal, retaliation, and discrimination, the complaint says.
For HR leaders, the filing reads as a study in the patterns plaintiffs' lawyers build cases around: a documented internal complaint, a sharp shift in performance management right after, a coercive PIP, and a promotion for the alleged offender. It also names two HR representatives directly - a reminder that the HR response timeline becomes evidence the moment a charge lands.
Doumouya filed her EEOC charge and received a Right to Sue letter on January 31, 2026. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, removal of the disputed performance documents from her personnel file, a neutral employment reference, and a declaration that Tempus AI violated Title VII.
The allegations have not been tested in court. Tempus AI has not yet filed a response, and no court has ruled on the merits.
