Meta’s Race Discrimination in Hiring and Promotions (Veneszee v. Facebook, Inc.)
On July 2, 2020, several black workers filed a class action charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging that Facebook, Inc. (which recently changed its name to Meta Platforms) discriminates against black workers and applicants in hiring, evaluations, promotions, and pay in violation of federal, state, and local civil rights laws. They also alleged that black workers at Facebook do not feel respected, valued, or heard, and called on Facebook to substantially increase the number of black workers hired and promoted at all levels of the company.
At the time the charge was filed, Black workers represented only 3.8% of all workers at Facebook and 1.5% of all technical workers at the company. These figures barely increased in the years before the charge, as Facebook grew its workforce from about 9,000 workers in 2014 to nearly 45,000 workers in 2019. In the charge, the workers seek to represent a nationwide class of Black workers who were denied jobs, promotions, and other opportunities at Facebook. They are asking the EEOC to investigate what they allege is a pattern or practice of bias against black workers in hiring and employment.
In 2021, it was reported that the EEOC had designated the charge as a “systemic” case, which means that the EEOC is investigating the case as a class action and will assess the extent to which Facebook’s policies or practices harm a class of Black workers, as opposed to merely whether Facebook violated the rights of the individual charging parties.
The plaintiffs and putative class are represented by PRF Law and two other law civil rights law firms, Mehri & Skalet and Katz Banks & Kumin.
The case is known as Oscar Veneszee, Jr. et al. v. Facebook, Inc., No. 570-2020-02188 (EEOC), and is pending before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that investigates discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other employment discrimination laws.
Case Documents
Media
Paresh Dave, Exclusive: U.S. agency probes Facebook for 'systemic' racial bias in hiring, promotions, Reuters (Mar. 5, 2021).
Elizabeth Dwoskin, Complaint alleges that Facebook is biased against black workers; An African American manager at Facebook and two rejected job applicants are suing the company, alleging a culture of bias in promotions, evaluations, hiring and recruiting, Washington Post (July 3, 2020).
Shannon Bond, 'We Have A Black People Problem': Facebook Worker Claims Racial Discrimination, National Public Radio (July 2, 2020).
Kaya Yurieff, Black Facebook employee and two job applicants file EEOC complaint alleging discrimination, CNNN (July 2, 2020)
