Carl Court
The attorney will look into claims that sexual harassment and management issues are plaguing the San-Francisco-based company.
President Barack Obama’s former attorney general, Eric Holder has been brought in to manage claims of sexual harassment and management issues at Uber.
The company — which experienced a rough patch this year after 200,000 users deleted their app after its CEO joined Trump’s economic council— is now facing some serious allegations. What sparked the investigation being led by Holder, who’s now a partner at Covington and Burling, was a blog post from a former Uber employee that went viral.
Engineer, Susan J. Fowler claims that within the first few months of her working there she was sexually harassed by a co-worker who asked her to join him and his girlfriend in bed.
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“When I reported the situation, I was told by both HR and upper management that even though this was clearly sexual harassment and he was propositioning me, it was this man’s first offense, and that they wouldn’t feel comfortable giving him anything other than a warning and a stern talking-to,” she says in her blog post.
“Upper management told me that he ‘was a high performer’ (i.e. had stellar performance reviews from his superiors) and they wouldn’t feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake on his part.”
In an internal memo Uber CEO Travis Kalanick addressed the investigation, noting that board member Arianna Huffington would be involved in this independent review and they’re looking into increase gender diversity.
“I believe in creating a workplace where a deep sense of justice underpins everything we do. Every Uber employee should be proud of the culture we have and what we will build together over time.
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