Black Facebook Facilities Worker’s Promotion Bias Claim Revived

Facebook Inc. may have denied promotion to a Black critical facilities technician in North Carolina based on his race, the Fourth Circuit ruled Wednesday, citing evidence he performed better than a White worker who was promoted.

A jury could also find Wayne Hawkins, the White former operations manager of the Forest City, N.C., data center, made or substantially controlled the decision not to elevate Robert Louis Gary to the next technician level, the court said.

And “Facebook does not (and could not) contest that Hawkins was a racist,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said in an ...