A lawsuit filed by a Meta engineer accuses the company of fostering a sexist work environment and retaliating against him for speaking out against the mistreatment of female employees. This is just the latest incident of leftist infighting in Silicon Valley.
NPR reports that Jeffrey Smith, an engineer who joined Meta in 2018, has filed a complaint in a U.S.. district court in New York, alleging that the company knowingly overlooks sexist treatment of female employees. The lawsuit claims that Meta engages in a practice of hiring and promoting less qualified men to roles over more qualified female applicants.
According to the complaint, Smith’s troubles began when he started advocating for women at Meta in the summer of 2023. He raised concerns about a capable female employee whose role was downsized during a company reorganization, with some of her responsibilities being allocated to less experienced male employees. Smith also claims he learned about a research scientist, Ran Rubin, who allegedly evaluated a high-performing female employee’s work more critically than that of her male counterparts.
Despite repeatedly raising these issues with Meta’s human resources and leadership, Smith claims that no action was taken. Instead, he alleges that he was “punished” with a negative performance review and suggestions that he should resign from his role. Smith’s manager, Sacha Arnaud, delivered his first-ever negative performance review, which reduced his bonus payout and impacted his company stock, causing him emotional distress and economic injury.
The complaint further states that several women had complained about Rubin’s poor management and bias against them, with some even leaving Meta due to the alleged mistreatment. Smith felt compelled to continue speaking out against what he perceived as a pattern of sexist behavior and unequal treatment of women at the company. He noted instances where “a qualified female employee was inexplicably stripped of responsibilities, a male supervisor was hyper-critical of a female direct report, certain male managers exhibited bias towards women they oversaw and that Meta exhibited systematic preferential treatment towards men in promotions and ratings, while failing to provide career development support to women.”
In October 2023, Smith raised concerns about a manager’s intention to fill a research science manager role “with a junior white man,” despite the two most qualified candidates being women. His manager allegedly responded by “lashing out” and questioning whether Smith’s response was productive. Following this incident, another employee accused of acting disrespectfully toward women allegedly yelled at and insulted Smith.
Smith’s attorney, Valdi Licul, characterized the case as “yet another example of how major corporations are failing to address sexist cultures and how they try to silence those who speak out against their practices.” Smith hopes a jury will agree that Meta violated anti-retaliation and anti-interference laws in New York, potentially resulting in civil and punitive damages and blocking Meta from further mistreatment of women in the workplace.
Read more at NPR here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
