Harassed at Facebook for criticising lack of diversity: Ex-employee

A Facebook engineering manager who quit her job this month has alleged harassment at the workplace after she criticised the social media giant for lack of diversity.

Sophie Alpert who headed a key open-source project called React at Facebook, tweeted on January 11: "Today's my last day at Facebook".

In an internal post seen by CNBC, she revealed the reason behind her decision, alleging she was harassed by colleagues after criticising the lack of diversity at the company.

"Facebook is good for many people, but it's not the right place for me right now," Alpert wrote on Workplace by Facebook which is an internal enterprise connectivity platform.

"I want to spend my time at a place willing to push further on diversity and inclusion. One where it's not OK to write on Workplace that white privilege doesn't exist.

"One where if I call out that our board has too many white men, I don't get harassed by other employees on Blind with transphobic messages saying I should be fired," she added.

In a statement to CNBC late Thursday, a Facebook spokesperson said the company doesn't tolerate harassment and has "clear policies about how people should communicate with and treat each other at Facebook".

According to Business Insider, Facebook has recently announced a new "set of ground rules" for communication at work.

In November, Facebook said is was planning to do away with its policy of requiring employees to settle sexual harassment claims made against colleagues in private arbitration alone.

The rule change will allow Facebook employees to pursue sexual harassment claims in court if they so wish.

--IANS

na/ksk