California Woman Claims Discrimination and Harassment: Suit Filed Against Facebook

May 11, 2015 - Chia Hong, a former Facebook employee, filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Facebook, alleging discrimination, harassment and that she was belittled during her time as a Facebook employee. Hong worked at Facebook first as a product manager and then as a technology specialist. Her employment lasted about three years. She was terminated in October of 2013. Hong claims that upon her termination, Facebook filled her position with a less qualified and less experienced male worker.

Facebook denies the allegations made by Hong while Hong goes into more detail regarding the inappropriate behavior. Hong states that company officials actually asked her why she didn’t stay home to take care of her kids. She also states that she was consistently and regularly ignored and that her professional opinions were belittled in workplace meetings at which she was among a notably smaller group of female employees. Hong also lodged allegations that she was required to organize parties/serve drinks for male colleagues. This was in no way a part of her job description as either a project manager or a technology specialist.

Hong is of Taiwanese descent and claims that she was told that she hadn’t been able to integrate well with the team at Facebook because she “looked and talked” different than the other team members.

Facebook denies that claims made by Hong – insisting that they did not mistreat her in any way during or after her employment with the company. They claim that they put great effort into diversity, gender and equality issues in the workplace and they believe they have done well in improving in those areas.

The case against Facebook involves a multitude of factual disagreements. Hong insists that her treatment at the company was sub-par with numerous instances of discrimination because she was female and because of her race. Facebook insists that the record will show that Chia Hong was treated fairly as an employee.

If you need help because you are experiencing gender discrimination or harassment at work, contact the southern California employment law experts at Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik.