(CNN) A man is suing a Michigan bank for racial discrimination after he says the staff refused to deposit settlement checks from another racial discrimination case and called police on him.

"Something else was afoot here," the man's attorney, Deborah Gordon, told CNN affiliate WXYZ . "And in my opinion there's only one thing: banking while black"

Sauntore Thomas, a 44-year-old African-American man, went to a TCF Bank branch Tuesday to open a savings account and deposit checks from the settlement in a recent racial discrimination case against his former employer, his complaint says. He already had a checking account at the bank.

A bank employee "immediately appeared suspicious," the complaint said.

"How did you get this money?" the employee asked, according to the complaint.

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