A former recruiter at Facebook hired to diversify its workforce has filed a $100m lawsuit against the social media giant, alleging she was discriminated against based on her race and disability, as well as harassed.
Anastasia Boone Talton and her legal representatives filed the complaint against Facebook with California’s Superior Court of San Mateo on 17 March.
According to court documents filed by Boone Talton, the complaint for damages accuses Facebook of eight offences including discrimination and harassment, failure to accommodate her disability, retaliation, wrongful termination and breach of contract. She has requested a trial by jury.
Anastasia Boone Talton worked for Facebook as a recruiter and was tasked with improving the company’s workforce, but claims that the company prevented her from doing her job
In a video posted to her social media feeds, she sits with her Lawyer who reads her public statement and explains they have filed a $100m lawsuit against the silicon valley giant
In a video posted on her Facebook and Twitter pages, Boone Talton sits with her lawyer who reads her public statement.
‘I’m here with my client, Anastasia Boone Talton, a senior talent acquisition specialist, who was hired to diversify Facebook,’ she says.
‘We are here to announce that Ms Boone Talton was not able to do her job, and as such she will be filing a case for $100m against Facebook in the San Mateo Superior Court.’
In the video, Boone Talton’s experience as a diversity recruiter is described by her lawyer. She says that Facebook only ‘paid lip service’ to its diversity goals, and would fly candidates out to be interviewed at their company headquarters just to meet a quota.
‘[Facebook] would simply fly out a candidate just to make the quota of saying that they interviewed at least one diverse candidate, but nine times out of ten, that person was not hired,’ her Lawyer says.
Boone Talton claims that Facebook would simply fly candidates out to its corporate headquarters campus in Menlo Park, California, just to meet diversity interview quotas
Boone Talton complained to Facebook about the culture she had experienced, but says after doing so she was shunned from social events with her colleagues
The lawsuit alleges that when Boone Talton complained to Facebook about what she had seen, she was excluded from company social events and was told she was not a ‘cultural fit’ after asking for her medical issues to be accommodated.
‘When Ms Boone Talton complained to management, she was shunned, she was kept out of diversity planning meetings, she wasn’t given her Facebook anniversary balloon, and she was kept away from extra curricular activities that other employers were able to do, such as go to happy hours and outings as a team,’ her Lawyer says in the video.
The statement explains that what made her file the complaint and come forward about her experience was the fact a male colleague who was hired at the same time was allegedly given preferential treatment and promoted to manager.
Despite this, she claims that she was still doing the same work as her colleague but getting paid less than he was, which is the grounds for the violation of the equal pay act complaint.
In a statement published by Business Insider, Facebook spokesperson Bertie Thomson said: ‘We don’t tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind at Facebook and absolutely disagree with the account presented in this claim.
‘We are proud of our efforts to find, grow and keep diverse talent, and of the support we provide to our employees with disabilities.’
Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This is not the first time the social media giant Facebook has been accused of a similar culture, with Chia Hong filing a lawsuit in 2015
As is referenced in the video, this is not the first time Facebook has been accused of similar actions in a court of law. In 2015, Chia Hong filed a lawsuit against Facebook in the same court against Facebook for gender discrimination and racial discrimination.
The parties underwent a voluntary mediation out of court, and the case was voluntarily dismissed by Hong. It is unknown whether a settlement was reached.