Facebook Race Discrimination in Hiring & Employment

In 2020, three Black professionals filed a class charge of race discrimination against Facebook, Inc. with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). (Charge No. 570-2020-02186). They seek to bring their claims on behalf of themselves and thousands of other Black Facebook applicants and employees. The charge alleges that Facebook engaged in systemic race discrimination against Black employees and applicants, including discrimination in recruitment and hiring, performance evaluations, promotions, and pay.

Black employees are underrepresented at all levels of Facebook, especially in management and leadership positions. The charge asserts that Black applicants do not have a fair opportunity to even get their foot in the door, and that Black professionals do not have an equal opportunity to advance their careers at Facebook.

WHO IS IN THE PROPOSED CLASS?

The three people who initiated this case at the EEOC have asked the EEOC to investigate their individual race discrimination claims as well as the claims on behalf of a class of other Black people who are similarly situated. Specifically, at this time, there are two proposed classes:

  • The proposed Hiring Class consists of all Black applicants who were not selected for employment by Facebook, at least since September 16, 2019 but possibly earlier.
  • The proposed Promotions Class consists of all Black employees who have been employed by Facebook, including current and former employees, at least since September 16, 2019 but possibly earlier.

The EEOC or a court may determine that the classes stretch back earlier than September 2019.

If you are unsure whether you might be a member of the potential classes described above, you are invited to contact us so that we can further assess that. At this time, we do not know if the case will be allowed to proceed on behalf of these classes or any class at all.

Regardless of when you were employed by or denied a job at Facebook, you are invited to contact us to share your experience about how you were treated. It may help us advance the rights of you or others.

SHARE INFORMATION

If you want additional information or to submit information to us or inquire about this case, please visit the Share Information page.

If you would rather speak directly to an attorney, you may call:

Ellen Eardley at Mehri & Skalet, PLLC, (202) 446-1907, or
Peter Romer-Friedman at 
Peter Romer-Friedman Law, (202) 355-6364

INVESTIGATION SUMMARY

The lawyers for the plaintiffs in this case and the EEOC are currently investigating various Facebook practices that may cause or contribute to systemic race discrimination in hiring and employment.

  • Facebook’s strong preference for interviewing and hiring applicants based on referrals from current Facebook employees in an overwhelmingly non-Black workforce, the outsized influence that the referring and prospective peers of applicants – who are overwhelmingly non-Black – have on hiring decisions, and its practice of giving preferential treatment in the review of applications to applicants who are referred by a current Facebook employee.

  • Facebook’s reliance on the arbitrary and subjective factor of “culture fit” in hiring, evaluating, promoting, and setting compensation for employees or applications, without providing sufficient objective guidance to managers and other employees on how to determine which applicants and employees will be a good “culture fit” at Facebook.

  • Facebook’s bi-annual performance evaluation system requires peer review from an overwhelmingly non-Black workforce and management team. Facebook’s failure to have diverse groups of peers and managers evaluate employees and determine whether they should be considered for and given promotions, and its practice of not ordinarily considering employees who receive a “Meets All Expectations” evaluation for promotions.

  • Facebook’s promotion of or failure to mitigate racial bias, hostility, and stereotypes that Black employees are less effective, entrepreneurial, and creative and more aggressive and non-responsive to feedback than other workers of different racial backgrounds, which in turn, infects the decisions of Facebook’s leadership, management, and employees in hiring, evaluating, promoting, and setting compensation for employees.

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DISCLAIMER

Prior outcomes in other cases do not guarantee the same or similar outcomes for this case. The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. We invite you to submit this form with your information; however, simply contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not send any confidential information to us until such time as an attorney-client relationship has been established.