07-07-2020
One current Facebook manager and two job applicants have filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that Facebook has "a general policy of discrimination against Black applicants and workers, including in hiring, evaluations, promotions, and pay." Oscar Veneszee, Jr., who is a current Black Facebook employee and two Black professional applicants, filed the charge last Thursday. The applicants claim they were denied multiple positions at the company for which they were qualified.
The charge states: "People of color and Black workers in particular remain underrepresented at all levels of Facebook and especially at the management and leadership levels. They do not feel respected or heard. And they do not believe that Black workers have an equal opportunity to advance their careers at Facebook. There may be Black Lives Matter posters on Facebook's walls, but Black workers don't see that phrase reflecting how they are treated in Facebook's own workplace." The filing demands Facebook end racial discrimination ― “not just in society, but in Facebook’s own workplace” and requests a the EEOC investigation into potential civil rights violations at company. The filing also alleges that Facebook “arbitrates all racial discrimination and harassment claims in a secret forum where all rulings are ‘confidential and not available to the public,’ while waiving this requirement for certain types of sex discrimination claims,” a policy the complaint says subordinates claims of racial discrimination.
This latest EEOC charge follows other diversity issues at Facebook. A former Facebook manager said the company had a "Black people problem" in late 2018. This fall, a dozen current and former Facebook employees wrote an anonymous post on Medium, "Facebook Empowers Racism Against Its Employees of Color." The post recounted negative experiences and treatment at the company.