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A Black doctor out of Houston has slammed JPMorgan Chase Bank with a whopping lawsuit for racial discrimination.
Dr. Malika Mitchell-Stewart, who was recently employed by Valley Oaks Medical Group after completing her residency, was on her way to cash her first big check at the bank’s First Colony Branch in Sugar Land, but the joyous occasion quickly turned sour when the location’s employees wouldn’t help her to deposit the $16,000 check.
According to the doctor’s lawsuit, staff members at the bank asked all sorts of odd questions, arguing that the check was fraudulent and questioning whether she was truly employed as a doctor.
“As soon as Dr. Mitchell-Stewart showed employees at First Colony Branch her Check, they immediately treated her like a criminal,” the suit read, according to ABC13.
Mitchell-Stewart released a statement to the network noting that the incident “took her special moment away” after the bank’s staff pummeled her with false accusations.
“I’ve never done anything wrong,” Mitchell-Stewart explained. “In order to get Texas medical license or a medical license at all, you have to have a clean record. You have to go to school for so many years, and they just didn’t care.”
The doctor said she even showed proof of her credentials by presenting a business card and confirmed her employment by contacting Valley Oaks Medical Group for verification, but that was still not enough.
“They didn’t respect that. They didn’t respect my credentials,” she added.
The incident, which occurred on Dec. 18, 2021, is now being reviewed by JPMorgan Chase Bank. The financial institution released a statement telling ABC13:
“We take this matter very seriously and are investigating the situation. We have reached out to Dr. Mitchell-Stewart to better understand what happened and apologize for her experience.”
