Worker sues SoFi, alleges firing unfair

Social Finance, a startup that specializes in refinancing student loans, is being sued by an employee who claims that he was fired for reporting sexual harassment and fraudulent actions by managers.

Brandon Charles, a senior operations manager at the San Francisco company known as SoFi, said in a lawsuit that he witnessed his female colleagues being harassed by managers. He also said he saw SoFi managers canceling loans to cover up mistakes and therefore keep their bonuses high.

“Mr. Charles took a stand against inequity and misogyny; he was fired for it,” the lawsuit said. “No woman should be forced to endure sexual harassment from a male superior because he holds her job and financial security in his hands.”

A SoFi spokesman, Jim Prosser, said that the company is familiar with Charles’ allegations, and that “they were investigated in depth by the company and found to have no merit. We will vigorously defend ourselves against any claims otherwise.”

Charles said he saw a male manager subjecting female employees to “unwanted, overtly sexual conduct” that included the interjection of “explicit sexual innuendo and statements into normal workplace communications.” The lawsuit says that Charles emailed several people in human resources about the harassment. He was told that the complaints were “devoid of merit,” and that such complaints were outside his appropriate duties to report to management, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit also alleges managers were mishandling loan applications to enhance their quarterly bonuses, which could be as much as $15,000 a quarter. The managers were canceling applications that had “internal errors,” rather than reporting those issues, which would have decreased performance metrics and quarterly bonus awards, the suit says.

SoFi started in 2011 by refinancing loans taken out by high-earning graduates from top universities. It has since pursued a much more ambitious vision, expanding into products from personal loans, mortgages and wealthmanagement to life insurance. It was valued at $4.3 billion in its last fundraising round in February.