A Meta engineer has filed a sexist discrimination lawsuit against the company, stating that it silenced him when he spoke up about the harassment and assault of his female coworkers.
According to reports, Meta employee Jeffrey Smith, who began working for the company in 2018, has taken his claims of harassment against female coworkers to federal court in New York. The lawsuit states that Meta gives preferential treatment to less qualified male candidates during the employment process and promotes them over more qualified female candidates.
In the summer of 2023, he spoke out against the transfer of responsibilities from an experienced female worker to less qualified men during a workplace restructuring. In addition, Smith claims to have heard rumors of a research scientist called Ran Rubin who, despite a female employee’s stellar performance, allegedly received a worse grade than her male colleagues.
Despite Smith repeatedly bringing these issues to the attention of Meta’s leadership and HR, he claims that no one did anything about it. As an alternative, he asserts that he was “punished” for his behavior by a poor performance evaluation and suggestions that he should resign.
Smith was emotionally and financially impacted when his manager, Sacha Arnaud, handed him his first-ever negative performance review, which reduced his bonus and diminished his business shares.
In October 2023, Smith was informed about management’s intention to hire a “junior white man” for the role of research scientific manager despite the fact that the two women who were best qualified for the post were women. Supposedly, Smith’s supervisor “lashed out” and cast doubt on the effectiveness of Smith’s response. Claims that another employee had yelled at and made fun of Smith following this incident lend credence to the notion that he had contempt for women.
Smith is pursuing a jury verdict because she expects Meta to be found guilty of breaking New York’s anti-retaliation and anti-interference legislation. If Smith’s lawsuit is successful, she hopes to recoup punitive and civil damages and stop Meta from harassing women in the workplace again.