He claims the same cultural chats his colleagues had freely became the reason he lost his job
A former IQVIA manager alleges the company discriminated against him over his Indian national origin and Asian race, then fired him for complaining about it.
Mandheer Wadhwa filed his complaint on August 12, 2026, in federal court in North Carolina. According to the filing, he was hired in March 2024 as a manager of vaccine assay development, earning $140,000 a year. He alleges he was never given a formal performance review, never disciplined in writing, and never placed on a performance improvement plan before he was let go.
At the center of the case is something HR teams handle constantly: casual conversations about culture. Wadhwa alleges that when he described Indian traditions - once during a chat about a solar eclipse, another time after a colleague shared pregnancy news - his comments were reported to Human Resources as inappropriate. The complaint says comparable conversations about other cultures drew no such scrutiny.
The filing alleges his authority was challenged from the start. According to the complaint, one of the people he supervised repeatedly told him, "You're not my manager" and "You're an electron," a phrase the filing describes as casting him as isolated within the team.
Wadhwa says he raised the problem internally. According to the complaint, he told the company he believed he was singled out as the only Indian manager in the research group, and that in May 2024 he formally complained to employee relations about race and national origin discrimination. The filing alleges the company "failed to undertake a meaningful investigation," closed the matter without explanation, and told him only that "appropriate action" had been taken - without saying what that action was.
For HR readers, the sequence is the story. The complaint alleges Wadhwa was placed on administrative leave in April 2024, complained of discrimination in May, and was terminated on August 1, 2024, for allegedly violating the company's Respectful Workplace Policy and Code of Conduct. Wadhwa calls that reason "false and pretextual," and alleges the company relied on accusations from the same people who had resisted reporting to him.
The complaint frames a contrast familiar to anyone who runs workplace investigations. It alleges the inquiry into Wadhwa was extensive, while the inquiry into his own discrimination complaint was cursory - an imbalance the filing ties to its disparate-treatment claim. The complaint also alleges, on information and belief, that other managers outside his protected group who were accused of workplace conflicts were offered coaching, counseling, and step-by-step discipline, while he was fired without the same chance.
Wadhwa brings claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 42 U.S.C. § 1981, covering hostile work environment, race discrimination, national origin discrimination, and retaliation. He is seeking reinstatement or front pay, back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorneys' fees. According to the filing, he filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in January 2025 and received a right-to-sue notice in May 2026.
None of the allegations have been tested in court, and no judge has ruled on any of the claims.
