Worker claims HR sent his confidential ethics complaint to managers he accused, then fired him with leave pending
A Fannie Mae worker says he was terminated days after confirming his FMLA leave was active, following a chain of events that started with his ethics complaint being sent to the bosses he accused.
Kevin Holcomb filed suit in federal court in Georgia on November 7, alleging his career at the mortgage giant ended in retaliation after he reported workplace problems and requested medical leave.
According to the filing, the trouble began in October 2023 when Holcomb raised concerns with the company's ethics office about workplace stress and trauma-related symptoms. Several weeks later, ethics staff acknowledged in writing that managers had failed to address his complaints properly.
Then in January 2024, human resources forwarded his confidential ethics email to his direct manager, A.J. Harger, who was named in the complaint. Harger then sent it to director Robin Kendrick, also a subject of the ethics report. Shortly after, those same managers gave Holcomb a negative performance review and reprimanded him for objecting to the breach of confidentiality.
The chronology that follows reads like a case study in timing. In February, Holcomb requested a schedule change to manage his symptoms and care for his elderly mother. His manager approved it. The director overruled it without discussion of alternatives.
By May, with permission from Kendrick, Holcomb had drafted a twenty-two page analysis of operational inefficiencies he said were costing the company money through overpayments to a vendor. The analysis connected current problems to issues from earlier litigation that resulted in settlements exceeding one million dollars to approximately forty-five employees.
In June, he was accused of misconduct. By September, he had a written reprimand for insubordination and had applied for FMLA leave.
On September 25, Holcomb notified the leave coordinator that his application was pending and copied his manager. The next day, the third-party administrator confirmed two claims were active. But three days earlier, on September 23, Harger had already signed termination paperwork with input from Kendrick. The justification made no mention of the pending leave requests or confirmations.
Holcomb was fired October 4. He says he was offered a payment in exchange for waiving his right to file discrimination claims. He declined.
The complaint also details what Holcomb describes as a pattern of pay disparities based on sex. After being demoted two levels in April 2015, his total compensation fell approximately seven percent the following year. Between 2015 and 2023, his pay declined approximately five percent while female colleagues advanced. By the time he left, he says female colleagues in comparable roles were earning twenty-two to forty-one percent more when bonuses were included. Nine promotions to senior associate during his tenure all went to women, including one who never met annual production goals.
After leaving Fannie Mae, Holcomb says job offers from two vendors that work with the company were withdrawn at the last minute. One was rescinded twenty-two minutes after a recruiter left a voicemail saying the start date was still pending with Fannie Mae.
He filed discrimination charges with the EEOC, which dismissed them in September 2025, saying investigation found the company provided legitimate reasons for its decisions. The agency issued a right-to-sue letter the next day.
The case is now in district court. Fannie Mae has not responded to the allegations.
