Federal agency investigating if Uber pay scale sex-biased

SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. employment regulators are investigating allegations that Uber set up a pay scale that discriminated against women working for the ridehailing service.

A person familiar with the probe says the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened the investigation in August. That was shortly before Uber hired Dara Khosrowshahi as its chief executive officer to clean up a corporate culture poisoned by a pattern of sexual harassment and other abuses.

The person asked not to

● be identified because the investigation is supposed to be confidential. The EEOC declined to comment Monday, citing agency policy. Uber says it has already revamped its compensation system while introducing other measures designed to ensure men and women are treated fairly. The Wall Street Journal first reported the investigation.

Uber is trying to rebuild its reputation after a tumultuous year in which allegations of discrimination and questionable business practices led to the firing of about 20 employees and the ouster of co-founder Travis Kalanick as chief executive officer. Khosrowshahi, who took over for

Kalanick in September, has said he’s remaking Uber to be a more ethical company.

But Khosrowshahi’s efforts were dealt two high-profile setbacks in the last week. On July 10, Uber said Liane Hornsey, the human resources chief, was departing. The staff change came after an accusation that she didn’t take allegations of racial discrimination seriously. On Friday,

The New York Times reported that Barney Harford, the chief operating officer appointed by Khosrowshahi, had apologized to employees after complaints he had made insensitive racial remarks during a conference call.

“We are continually improving as a company and have proactively made a lot of changes in the last 18 months,” said Matt Kallman, a spokesman for Uber. He said

the San Francisco-based company is implementing a new salary and equity structure, overhauling its performance review process and rolling out diversity and leadership training to much of its 18,000 employees globally.

The EEOC declined to comment on the investigation, citing confidentiality rules. “Information becomes public only when the EEOC files a lawsuit, which is typically a last resort,” said spokesman Kimberly Smith-Brown. The agency has closely scrutinized Silicon Valley in recent years. In 2016, it investigated Google over age discrimination and is looking into similar claims at Intel Corp.