Uber: $4.4 million for harassment victims
Uber has agreed to pay $4.4 million to employees who were victims of alleged gender discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation at the ridehailing company, government officials announced Wednesday.
The agreement ends an investigation opened in 2017 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A series of scandals that year shed light on Uber’s workplace culture under thenCEO Travis Kalanick, including a blog post by former employee Susan Fowler, who detailed her experiences of sexual harassment and gender discrimination at the San Francisco company.
The EEOC said its investigation “found reasonable cause to believe that Uber permitted a culture of sexual harassment and retaliation against individuals who complained about such harassment.” The settlement will compensate anyone who the commission determines experienced harassment or was retaliated against between Jan. 1, 2014, and June 30, 2019. A claims administrator will contact all female employees who worked at the company during that time, giving them an opportunity to submit
a claim through a questionnaire.
William Tamayo, San Francisco district director for the commission, said in a statement that Uber should serve as an example to other employers for its “commitment to holding management accountable and identifying repeat offenders so that highperforming, superstar harassers are not allowed to continue their behavior.”
“The tech industry, among others, has often ignored allegations of sexual harassment when an accused harasser is seen as more valuable to the company than the accuser,” Tamayo said.
Under new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the company has done away with mandatory arbitration for claims of sexual harassment and assault to make it easier for victims to file cases in court.
As part of the settlement, Uber has also agreed to create a system identifying employees who have been accused of harassment as well as managers who fail to respond to concerns in a timely manner. A consultant will help Uber update its policies, including paying more attention to such claims in exit interviews. Former EEOC Commissioner Fred Alvarez will also monitor the company for three years.
“We’ve worked hard to ensure that all employees can thrive at Uber by putting fairness and accountability at the heart of who we are and what we do,” Tony West, Uber’s chief legal officer, said in a statement. “I am extremely pleased that we were able to work jointly with the EEOC in continuing to strengthen these efforts.”
Uber released its first transparency report earlier this month detailing safetyrelated incidents including sexual harassment and assault problems plaguing its service. The report found more than 400 reports of rape and nearly 6,000 reports of sexual assault between 2017 and 2018.