Earlier this week, a former Facebook employee filed a gender and race discrimination lawsuit against the social networking site. The lawsuit alleges that the woman was hired to work as a program manager, and then promoted to be a technology partner. However, although she received raises throughout her employment, when she began complaining about harassment, she was fired.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits
employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin and religion. This means
that your company cannot take any form of adverse of negative action against
you because you are a member of one of these protected categories. Further,
if you complain about discrimination and suffer negative consequences
– such as being fired, transferred to a worse location, given worse
hours, or not being promoted – it may be possible to file a lawsuit
for retaliation.
In this instance, the employee complained of being belittled at work,
asked why she didn’t “just stay home and take care of her
children.” She also alleged that she was “admonished”
when she requested time off to visit her child at school. She also says
she was “ordered to organize parties and serve drinks to male colleagues,
which was not a part of her job description and not something that was
requested of males with whom she worked.” When Hong was fired, she
says she was replaced by a less qualified male.
She further asserted that her professional opinions belittled or ignored at group meetings in which she was one of the only employees of Chinese descent.
She is seeking back pay and damages.
For more information, or if you believe that you have suffered any type of employment discrimination, please contact the experienced Atlanta discrimination attorneys at The Buckley Law Office, LLP for an immediate case evaluation.