Meta beats lawsuit over race-based hiring program for commercial

By Daniel Wiessner

Aug 30 (Reuters) - A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed a white electrician's lawsuit accusing Meta Platforms of facilitating race bias by tapping a production company that participated in a diversity hiring program to film a commercial.

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in a written decision on Thursday said plaintiff James Harker, who has worked on film productions for three decades, lacked legal standing to sue.

Harker was hired by the production company, Something Ideal, as a "best boy" to manage equipment for the filming of the commercial in 2022. He claims the production company hired people to work on the project through an apprenticeship program for racial minorities, including a gaffer or lead electrician who was paid more than him despite her lack of experience.

But Swain said Harker applied for a gaffer role and did allege that he expressed any interest in that job.

"Mr. Harker does allege any facts suggesting that he communicated his desire to work as a gaffer, or that Something Ideal could have known that he was interested in working as a gaffer," Swain wrote.

And, he was ineligible to participate in the hiring program to begin with because it was geared toward people with little or experience, Swain said.

America First Legal, a conservative group founded by former Trump administration officials, which represents Harker, did immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, or lawyers for the other defendants - Something Ideal, advertising firm BBDO, and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers, which sponsored the diversity program.

The 2023 lawsuit accused the defendants of violating Civil War-era laws barring race discrimination in contracts and conspiracies to interfere with civil rights, as well as a New York anti-discrimination law.

AFL in January threatened to sue Meta over its brief suspension of the group's Instagram account, which AFL says was triggered by its criticism of the Biden administration and violated Instagram's terms of use.

AFL has filed about two dozen complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing major companies of discriminating against workers and contractors through diversity programs.

The group has also filed several lawsuits making similar claims most on behalf of individual plaintiffs such as Harker. Courts have dismissed lawsuits against Progressive Insurance and a company it partners with to provide grants to Black entrepreneurs, The North Face, and Texas A&M University.

America First is appealing those rulings, which were largely dismissed for lack of standing or other technical issues rather than on the merits of the cases. Lawsuits against companies including IBM, Expedia, and Ally Financial are pending. The companies have denied wrongdoing.

Earlier this month, a California federal judge refused to dismiss the group's lawsuit claiming CBS denied a white screenwriter a staff position on the show "SEAL Team." The judge did explain his ruling, which rejected CBS' claims that its ability to choose writers from specific backgrounds is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The case is Harker v. Meta Platforms, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:23-cv-07865.

For Harker: Nicholas Barry of America First Legal and Ronald Berutti of Murray-Nolan Berutti

For Meta: Catherine Rizzoni, Danielle Conley and Melanie Blunschi of Latham & Watkins

For Something Ideal: Nicholas Reiter of Venable

For BBDO: Guy Cohen of Davis & Gilbert

For the Association of Independent Commercial Producers: Paul Rooney of Ellenoff Grossman & Schole

Read more:

IBM fired white worker to fulfill diversity goals, lawsuit claims

Conservative activist uses Civil War-era law to challenge US corporate diversity

Ex-Trump administration officials target corporate diversity efforts

CBS must face white screenwriter's lawsuit over diversity policies

Challenge to Texas A&M workforce diversity policies is moot, judge rules

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York)

((daniel.wiessner@thomsonreuters.com))