Tech firm Magic Leap settles lawsuit

Former executive alleged gender bias

Plantation-based Magic Leap has reached a confidential settlement of a gender bias lawsuit filed by a former executive, Tannen Campbell.

Campbell alleged in a federal court lawsuit that she was hired by the CEO to make the cutting-edge technology company less of a “boys club,” but her efforts were met with resistance.

A former vice president of strategic marketing at the privately held technology company, Campbell sued Magic Leap in February.

Notice of the settlement was filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale and signed by Judge William P. Dimitrouleas. Terms were not disclosed. The lawsuit now is expected to be dismissed.

Magic Leap spokeswoman Julia Gaynor said in a text message that she could not comment on the lawsuit.

Campbell had petitioned the court to award unspecified damages, including back pay and reinstatement to her job. But those issues were not addressed in the settlement notice.

Despite a mission given her by founder and CEO Rony Abovitz, according to Campbell’s suit, Magic Leap’s top management did not include females and they ignored requests to discuss the hiring of more women to technical positions, the lawsuit alleged.

Campbell was fired in December 2016, the lawsuit alleged, after several attempts to meet with Abovitz to discuss what she described as gender discrimination issues at the company.

The former executive claimed in her lawsuit that Magic Leap’s corporate culture is one of “macho bullying,” where women’s work and ideas are “ridiculed openly and their opinions ignored in favor of those of their male counterparts.”

Magic Leap had no women in leadership positions during Campbell’s tenure, according to the complaint. In addition, only 14 percent of its total employees were women and 3 percent of its engineers were women.

Campbell initially filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and was given a “right to sue” letter on Feb. 8.

Magic Leap is developing mixed-reality applications for a variety of industries. It has raised $1.4 billion from Google, Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba and other investors.

Locally, Plantation and the state of Florida last year awarded Magic Leap an $8 million economic incentives package, contingent on the company creating 725 jobs with an average annual salary of $100,000, and the retention of 217 jobs.