Facebook faces accusations of denying Black applicants from hiring positions

Facebook+Discrimination

Eston Bond | Flickr

Rachel Dalloo

Facebook Inc. is facing growing accusations of denying qualified Black applicants from job opportunities at the company.

The tech giant rejected hiring three Black candidates for positions at the company, telling one candidate they weren’t a “cultural fit,” as reported by The Washington Post. These applicants filed a legal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to Business Insider.

Now, while Facebook is undergoing a federal investigation by the EEOC, more Black applicants who have been rejected by the company despite their qualifications are speaking out about their experiences.

Facebook addressed the situation and stated it is working toward fixing the racial injustice in its workplace and hiring process.

“We’ve added diversity and inclusion goals to senior leaders’ performance reviews. We take seriously allegations of discrimination and have robust policies and processes in place for employees to report concerns, including concerns about microaggressions and policy violations,” a Facebook spokesperson wrote to Business Insider.

According to Facebook’s latest diversity report, taken from July of last year, only 3.9% of its employees in the United States were Black, while 6.3% are Hispanic.

“We believe it is essential to provide all employees with a respectful and safe working environment. We take any allegations of discrimination seriously and investigate every case.” Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesperson, told The Intercept.

The EEOC complaint that was filed against Facebook last year “alleges a pattern of discrimination and bias against Black employees in evaluations, promotions, pay and hiring practices,” according to The Washington Post.

Oscar Veneszee Jr., a Facebook operations manager who was tasked with recruiting employees to the company, backed the EEOC complaint and told The Washington Post that he believes several well-qualified applicants who he had advised to apply to positions at the company were turned down because they weren’t considered a “culture fit.”

The complaint goes on to state Facebook’s unethical practices have paved the way for biased results, such as fewer opportunities for promotions and higher pay for people “who don’t fit the ideal ‘mold’,” according to The Washington Post.  

“When I was interviewing at Facebook, the thing I was told constantly was that I needed to be a culture fit, and when I tried to recruit people, I knew I needed [to] find people who were a culture fit,” Veneszee said. “But unfortunately, not many people I knew could pass that challenge because the culture here does not reflect the culture of Black people.”