SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook said on Friday that it would no longer force employees to settle sexual harassment claims in private arbitration, making it the latest technology company to do away with a practice that critics say has stacked the deck against victims of harassment.

Facebook acted one day after Google announced similar plans. Last week, 20,000 Google employees staged a walkout from the company’s offices around the world to demand that it change the way it handled sexual harassment incidents. Microsoft changed its arbitration policy about a year ago, as did the ride-hailing company Uber six months ago.

The technology industry, known for its groundbreaking products as well as its trendsetting office culture, has gone to considerable lengths in recent years to keep work-force disputes out of the court system. Forcing employee complaints into arbitration has become as common as free lunches and shuttle buses to the office.

In arbitration, employment experts say, the playing field shifts toward businesses. Cases are decided by arbitrators instead of judges, and the more cases that companies take to arbitration, the better they fare, according to a 2011 analysis by Alexander J. S. Colvin, a professor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.