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Early Meta employee sues for sexual harassment, gender discrimination
- One of Meta’s earliest employees who rose to the rank of director, Kelly Stonelake, has sued the company over gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation from shortly after her hiring in 2009 to when she was laid off in January 2024.
- Stonelake alleged that she reported the sexual harassment and assault, but the company failed to take action, and she was passed over for promotions in favour of men on her team.
- Stonelake stated in her lawsuit that such discriminatory conditions at Meta had affected her mental health so much that she was still receiving medical treatment.
- Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton declined to comment citing pending litigation.
- The lawsuit has been filed at a time when Facebook and founder Mark Zuckerberg have come under criticism for shifting to the political right, hiring public policy staff from politically right-leaning news outlets, eliminating third-party fact-checking, and halting its biggest diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
- Stonelake said the lawsuit shows a broader pattern of abuse at Meta. “Meta has the opportunity to do harm on a scale that only tech companies can,” she told TechCrunch.
- Stonelake joined Facebook in 2009 and alleges that the harassment started almost immediately. During her first few weeks of employment, Stonelake alleges that a colleague grabbed her crotch while at a company social gathering called League.
- While at Facebook, Stonelake experienced continuous sexual harassment from her manager. Promotion was also delayed and denied to her by him, and a manager continued to harass and discriminate against her.
- Stonelake raised concern that Horizon Worlds, a leading product in Facebook's metaverse, did not have adequate safety systems to keep underage users off the platform.
- Stonelake was denied another promotion in January 2023 and went on emergency medical leave to receive treatments for suicidal thoughts and post-traumatic stress disorder, only to be informed that she would be let go in January 2024 as part of mass layoffs at Meta.
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