New York readers may be interested to learn that Uber’s CEO has ordered an “urgent investigation” after a former employee publicly accused the company of sexual harassment. The order came just hours after the employee published a blog post on Feb. 19 detailing the alleged discrimination.
In the post, entitled “Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber,” the former Uber engineer described repeated incidents of sexism and harassment she experienced after being hired by the ride-sharing company in November 2015. She claimed that a supervisor made unwanted sexual advances, which she reported to the human resources department. She further claimed that HR told her that they didn’t “feel comfortable” issuing more than a warning to the supervisor. She was allegedly told that she could continue working with the supervisor or find a new team to work with. She chose to switch teams and met other female employees who also claimed to be sexually harassed by the supervisor.
The former employee claims she attempted to switch teams again but was denied. When she pointed out that she had a perfect performance score, she was allegedly told that performance issues can sometimes be related to an employee’s personal life. Months later, she said the company lowered her performance score and told her she “didn’t show any signs” of career advancement. She soon began looking for other employment and left Uber in December. She is now employed at Stripe.
Sexual harassment can take many forms, including lewd comments, requests for sexual favors, differing treatment due to gender and unwanted sexual advances. Victims of sexual harassment can learn more about their legal options by consulting with an attorney.
Source: CNN, “Uber CEO orders ‘urgent’ investigation after sex harassment allegations,” Julia Horowitz, Feb. 19, 2017
