A white San Francisco resident has sued Accenture PLC and Accenture LLP in Connecticut, claiming the global management consulting and professional services company discriminates against non-Asians.

In the prospective class action employment discrimination lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District for Connecticut, Matthew Walker alleges discrimination is rampant at the company, which has global headquarters in Ireland, 459,000 employees worldwide and about 51,800 throughout various locations in the United States, including an office in Hartford.

The alleged discrimination at Accenture, which contracts with U.S. companies to provide information technology-related services, is “pervasive,” according to the 18-page lawsuit.

“Accenture has engaged in a systematic, company-wide pattern or practice of discrimination in favor of South Asians and against individuals who are not South Asian, in hiring and employment decisions,” the lawsuit says. Accenture's service offerings are consolidated into five separate businesses. The lawsuit says the Accenture Technology and Accenture Consulting divisions are at least 70 percent South Asian, primarily from Indian-American workers.

Accenture recruiters, the suit says, “disproportionately seeks out and recruits South Asian candidates.” The company then “gives these candidates preference over comparably or better qualified non-South Asian candidates,” according to the complaint.

Walker, the plaintiff, worked for the company from November 2011 through June 2015, when he was terminated. The lawsuit said Walker, who holds a degree in accounting and information systems, got rave reviews from many of the clients from around the country who he helped with IT issues. Those clients, the lawsuit said, included Warner Brothers, Best Buy, Qualcomm and Target.

“However, despite his strong performance as an application performance consultant, Mr. Walker was never promoted by Accenture during his 3 1/2 years with the company,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit notes that once an employee finished servicing a client, they are, as the company calls it, “benched” and must apply again through an application and interview process, just like external candidates.

The lawsuit alleges non-South Asians “are disproportionately relegated to the bench and unable to secure new positions within Accenture.”

According to the lawsuit, Walker was told in June 2015 that he was being terminated “due to his prolonged bench period and lack of billable hours. … The true reason for his termination was Accenture's pattern or practice of discrimination.”

The lawsuit seeks certification as a class, a declaratory judgment that the alleged discrimination laid out in the lawsuit is unlawful and violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866, pre- and post-judgment awards for the plaintiff and class, and front and back pay for Walker.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Accenture had not assigned an attorney to represent it in the lawsuit. Company representative Stacey Jones and Chad Jerdee, its general counsel and chief compliance officer, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Representing Walker are Michael Reilly of Hartford-based Cicchiello & Cicchiello and Daniel Kotchen, Michael von Klemperer and Lindsey Grunert from Washington, D.C.-based Kotchen & Low. Reilly referred media inquiries to the Washington, D.C., attorneys, but Kotchen declined to comment and von Klemperer and Grunert did not respond to a request for comment.

Judge Janet Bond Arterton is scheduled to hear the case.