Facebook, like Google, is stopping forced arbitration of sexual misconduct claims
Facebook is ending a company-wide policy that required mandatory arbitration of employee sexual misconduct claims, just days after Google repealed a similar policy.
The change, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, allows Facebook employees to pursue their claims in court and no longer forces them to arbitrate privately, which ensures that sexual misconduct claims aren’t kept secret. Facebook will also require executives at the director level to disclose any relationships with company employees to human resources.
Facebook’s decision follows that of Google, which announced on Thursday that it would revise its sexual harassment policies. Earlier in the month, Google employees staged a mass walkout to protest what they said was the tech giant’s mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations against executives.
In a memo to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company would make arbitration available for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims, in addition to providing live support for victims.
“We recognize that we have not always gotten everything right in the past and we are sincerely sorry for that,” Pichai wrote in the memo, which was first obtained by The New York Times. It’s clear we need to make some changes.”
Other tech companies, including Uber and Microsoft, have also dropped forced arbitration.