Black Manager, Job Applicants File Race Discrimination Claim Against Facebook

A Black Facebook manager and two Black job applicants have filed a discrimination charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Facebook.

The complaint serves to notify the EEOC of the allegations, after which point the organization itself can sue Facebook or allow the workers to pursue claims against Facebook directly.

In the charge, operations manager Oscar V. has joined job applicants Howard W. and Jazsmin S. in accusing Facebook of a range of racist hiring and promotion policies, as well as creating a culture that is hostile to Black workers. Oscar, Howard and Jazmin accuse Facebook of having systemic racial bias embedded into how the company runs.

In addition to alleging Facebook is full of systems and policy that are hostile to Black workers, Oscar, Howard and Jazmin say the social media giant pays lip service to the idea of racial justice in the interest of maintaining a positive reputation while not living up to these ideals.

In their words, “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 workers’ allegations say racism begins at the hiring phase and permeates every level of promotion at the organization. They assert that Facebook prioritizes a “cultural fit” when hiring, a statement that maintains the overwhelmingly white culture of the organization.

The allegations note that less than 4% of Facebook’s employees are Black. Allegedly, of the Black workers in the company, a disproportionately small percentage of them hold higher-paid positions. Only 1.5% of technical jobs are held by Black employees and only 3.1% of Black employees hold senior leadership roles, the complaint states.

The problem does not go away once a worker is hired, the EEOC complaint argues. Allegedly, Black workers are subjected to higher standards than white employees, and are evaluated more negatively for qualities or actions not seen as negative in their white or Asian counterparts.

Oscar speaks to his personal experience in his complaint, noting that he was hired in 2017.

In Oscar’s experience, his performance at Facebook was never evaluated by another Black person, especially in hiring and promotion. To highlight the supposed racial bias at Facebook, he notes that his manager has given him exceedingly positive reviews, calling him a “natural leader” and a “powerhouse.”

However, despite these positive accolades, he has not been promoted since he was hired and has only been rated up to “meets all expectations” in peer reviews.

Additionally, he says he was reprimanded when he proposed suggestions for recruiting more Black interns, and was subjected to racially charged criticisms by colleagues. 

Howard and Jazsmin also recount their personal experiences with hiring at Facebook, alleging that it was the culture at the organization that prevented them from being hired at all.

For his part, Howard explains that he holds a master’s degree in business administration and multiple certifications. Despite these qualifications, he has been rejected for jobs twice from Facebook.

Jazsmin says she has previously worked in the tech industry in the human resources area, but has been rejected without interviews from several applications.

They both say they are highly qualified in their respective fields, with comparable credentials to white and Asian applicants who were hired by Facebook. Nonetheless, they were not offered a job, they explain.

Allegedly, they were rejected even though they had recommendations from existing Facebook employees.

The workers also admonish Facebook for how it handles racial discrimination cases, saying they are handled in a notably different way than gender discrimination cases.

The Washington Post provides context for the EEOC complaint, noting this is not the only instance of criticism lodged against Facebook over their approach to racial issues.

According to The Washington Post, both internal culture and the company’s outward-facing approach to racial issues have been problematic. 

The Washington Post also notes that after Facebook failed to curtail racists and violent content, more than 500 advertisers boycotted Facebook. Specifically, Mark Zuckerberg was called on to remove a post by President Donald Trump that many saw as a support for racist violence after the police killing of George Floyd. However, he declined to do so, The Washington Post says, and garnered extensive criticism along the way.

Two years ago, a Black executive reportedly quit his job at Facebook over the allegedly discriminatory and hostile work environment, highlighting the discrimination faced at every level of the organization.

Have you ever suffered racial discrimination at work? Share your experiences in the comments below.

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