A former employee is accusing a Campbell’s Soup executive of allegedly saying the company’s products are for “poor people,” mocking the meat as engineered in a “3D printer,” and making racist remarks about Indian employees in a secretly recorded tirade.
Robert Garza, a former cybersecurity expert for Campbell’s, filed an employment discrimination and retaliation lawsuit on Nov. 20 in Wayne County, Michigan, claiming he was fired for complaining about Campbell’s Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Martin Bally. The lawsuit names Campbell’s Soup Company, Bally and J.D. Aupperle., Campbell’s director of cybersecurity operations, as defendants.
According to the lawsuit, Garza said he began working for the company in September 2024 as a cybersecurity analyst at their headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. Garza said he had a meeting with Bally two months later in November 2024 for what he said he thought was supposed to be a discussion about his salary.
Instead, Garza claims Bally made several offensive remarks during the meeting, including disparaging the company’s products as highly processed food for “poor people,” according to the lawsuit. Garza also accused Bally of making racist comments about Indian employees at the company, calling them “idiots” and stating that he disliked working with them.
Garza said he recorded audio of the meeting and shared it with NBC affiliate WDIV in Detroit, which broadcast portions of the conversation Garza claims was of Bally.
In the lawsuit, Garza said he reported the alleged comments to Aupperle, his manager at the company. He also said he told Aupperle on Jan. 10 that he wanted to report Bally’s alleged comments to the company’s human resources department.
Garza’s lawsuit claims Aupperle did not encourage him to report the comments to H.R., and accuses him of failing to give him any direction on how to proceed. Garza said he was then abruptly fired from his job on Jan. 30, despite “excelling in his role.”
The lawsuit accuses Aupperle and Bally of firing Garza in retaliation for reporting the alleged comments and claims the company maintained a racially hostile work environment. The lawsuit also claims Garza has suffered mental, emotional and financial damage since his firing.
“This situation has been very hard on Robert,” Garza’s attorney wrote in a statement to NBC News. “He thought Campbell’s would be thankful that he reported Martin’s behavior, but instead he was abruptly fired. We look forward to obtaining justice for Robert.”
In a statement in response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the Campbell’s Company said that Bally was placed on temporary leave while it was investigating the allegations.
“If the comments were in fact made, they are unacceptable. They do not reflect our values and the culture of our company. Mr. Bally is temporarily on leave while we conduct an investigation.
We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use. We know that millions of people use Campbell’s products, and we’re honored by the trust they put in us. The comments made about our food are completely inaccurate and absurd.
We use 100% real chicken in our soups. The chicken meat comes from long-trusted, USDA approved U.S. suppliers and meets our high quality standards. All of our soups are made with No Antibiotics Ever chicken meat. Any claims to the contrary are completely false.
I also want to emphasize that the person alleged to be speaking on the recording works in IT and has nothing to do with how we make our food.“
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