A former employee of the Campbell’s Company has sued the Camden-based food giant, alleging he was fired for reporting that a company vice president had made racist comments about co-workers and disparaged Campbell’s products.
Robert Garza, who worked as a cybersecurity analyst for the company, alleged in the lawsuit filed last week in Michigan that Martin Bally, a vice president and chief information security officer, made the comments during a November 2024 meeting that the complaint said was intended for a discussion of Garza’s salary.
Bally “made several racist comments about Indian workers at the company,” the complaint said.
Bally also told Garza that Campbell’s products were highly processed food for “poor people,” according to the lawsuit.
In an interview Garza did last week with WDIV, an NBC affiliate in Detroit, he said that he secretly recorded audio of the meeting, which occurred at a restaurant. The TV broadcast played some portions of the recording.
The audio recording is not mentioned in the lawsuit. It is legal in Michigan for one party in a conversation to make a recording without the consent of the other party.
In a statement, the Campbell’s Company said: “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.”
The company, which changed its name from the Campbell Soup Co. last year, added: “We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use. The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate — they are patently absurd.”
The company said it uses “100% real chicken” in our soups, and the meat comes from “long-trusted, USDA approved U.S. suppliers” and does not contain antibiotics.
“[We] 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,” the company said.
James F. Regan, a spokesperson for the company, said Garza never told the company that he made a recording and the company learned about the recording after the TV report was aired last week.
Bally, the vice president, could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Zachary Runyon, Garza’s attorney, was unavailable for comment.
In recorded excerpts included in the TV report, the person in the recording, alleged to be Bally, says: “We have s— for f— poor people.” The person then says they rarely buy Campbell’s products because they’re unhealthy.
The voice says that Campbell’s uses “bioengineered meat. I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer.” They then go on to make racist comments about their co-workers.
Garza, who started with the company in September 2024, told the TV station he decided to record the conversation, which reportedly lasted more than an hour, because he had an “instinct that something wasn’t right with Martin.”
The lawsuit says that “Bally also disclosed to Plaintiff that he often appeared at work high from marijuana edibles.”
The lawsuit says that Garza reported to his manager on Jan. 10, 2025, what Bally allegedly said during the November meeting. The complaint said the manager did not encourage Garza to report the incident to human resources and did not provide any direction on how to proceed.
On Jan. 30, according to the complaint, Garza was “abruptly terminated from employment.”
The complaint alleges that Garza was terminated “in retaliation for complaining about Defendant Bally’s racist behavior.”
Garza is seeking unspecified compensation for damages and related costs.