Meta rehires former employee who stalked and sexually harassed a colleague: lawsuit

According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, a former Meta employee who was placed on a “Do Not Hire” and “No Entry” list after stalking and sexually harassing a male colleague was rehired by the tech company after his The recruiting department had been downsized.

The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court, accused Meta of violating New York City’s human rights laws by reinstating the former employee and subjecting the plaintiff to further harassment.

The lawsuit also alleged that Meta retaliated by removing the plaintiff from key projects after he contacted Meta’s human resources department about reinstating his alleged stalker.

“I had spoken to my employer about this several times and was told that he couldn’t come into our offices, that he wouldn’t be rehired, and then all of a sudden this guy contacted me [on Meta’s internal messaging system]”,” James Napoli, who works as a marketing director in Meta’s New York office, told CNBC.

Meta declined to comment.

The lawsuit follows a series of layoffs at Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.

In March 2023, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be restructuring and cutting a total of 21,000 jobs over time.

The layoffs were criticized for overburdening some of Meta’s teams – particularly customer service and fact-checking.

According to the lawsuit, human resources also suffered. The company relies “more heavily on hiring employees through outside contractors” and employs “far fewer recruiters to screen applicants,” Napoli’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.

“Meta’s employment practices are apparently so chaotic, reckless and ineffective that the company is failing to keep track of the most basic data point in its workplace – the dangerous people who pose serious risks to Meta’s own employees,” it said the lawsuit.

“Yet Meta tells the public and officials that the company is capable of protecting the personal information of billions of children and adults on its platforms.”

The colleague accused of stalking Napoli – referred to in the complaint as “GF” – worked on Meta’s marketing team. He was laid off in 2022 when the company cut 13% of its workforce.

GF and Napoli saw each other at work before the layoffs, but were just “work acquaintances,” Napoli said.

After GF was fired, he asked Napoli if they could meet over a cup of coffee — and Napoli was shocked by his “disturbing behavior,” the filing says.

“I want you to know that God is speaking to me and has been speaking to me about you since April,” GF reportedly told Napoli.

Almost immediately, Napoli reported his concerns about GF – who had been sending him up to 30 messages a day – to Meta’s human resources department and its managers.

Over the next nine months, GF’s harassment only got worse, the complaint says.

GF contacted Napoli’s sister and claimed Napoli was at the hospital to get more information, the lawsuit says.

He wrote Napoli letters and messages in which he mentioned his partner, family members and dog by name, the lawsuit says.

“I’m being tortured with AI technology that I don’t know where it came from and I feel like my love for you is being abused for experiences I didn’t agree with while ghosts tell me that you and … I am the two messengers,” Napoli wrote in a message, according to the lawsuit.

After GF discovered Napoli’s home address, he left a “large quantity of disturbing writings and drawings” at his home, the lawsuit says.

“I was afraid to go out, I was afraid for my dog, I was afraid for my partner because they were all mentioned by this person,” Napoli told CNBC.

Napoli reported the harassment again to Meta after receiving 20 messages, phone calls and emails threatening himself, his partner and his dog, the lawsuit said.

He considered seeking a restraining order but could not do so under New York state law because he did not have a close or familial relationship with his stalker, according to the lawsuit.

In September 2023, Meta Napoli’s human resources department assured that “he was safe at work” and that GF was on both a “Do Not Hire” list and a “No Entry” list that prohibits him from entering company buildings .

But Meta rehired his stalker just four months later, which Napoli found out when he received a message from GF in the company’s internal messaging system, the lawsuit says.

GF — who was rehired by Meta through a contractor — said he would see Napoli at work meetings soon, the lawsuit says.

A month later, Meta Napoli said GF was fired again — and then the harassment “increased dramatically” with “threats of revenge and sexual violence” after GF realized Napoli’s concerns had led to his firing, it said in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleged that Napoli suffered retaliation after voicing his concerns about GF a second time. The company allegedly excluded him from important projects and gave him a negative performance review, the lawsuit said.

Napoli is seeking unspecified damages and asking the court to prohibit Meta from rehiring GF or retaliating.