Sexual Harassment, a Blog Post, and a Shakeup at Uber
Can a whistleblower ever make a difference in a big company? Do you have to make a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or could something as simple as a blog post make a difference? Find out how one former employee’s online complaint has caused a shakeup at the top of Uber.
In this blog post I will describe how a blog post by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler describing sexual harassment and retaliation led to an independent investigation and the resignation of CEO and founder Travis Kalanick. I will review the recommendations made to revise company policy and culture and explain how internal policy can affect claims of discrimination and harassment.
Former Employee’s Blog Reports Sexual Harassment
A former Uber site reliability engineer (SRE), Susan Fowler, left the company after a year of sexual harassment and retaliation issues. Her blog post, published in February 2017, blew the whistle on a corporate culture that gave free passes for sexual harassment to high performers within the company. She claimed that early in her employment, her manager inviting her to have sex with him and his wife in their open relationship. She complained about it to HR, but they claimed it was his first offense and only issued a warning.
Over the next several months, she learned of several other female engineers with similar experiences. HR and upper management gave similar warnings, claiming that no other complaints had ever been filed, even against the same manager.
Over the next year, internal management changes made Fowler want to change project teams. In spite of positive performance reviews and a lack of complaints, she claims her transfer was refused based on unreported performance problems. Then her next performance review was changed after the fact without notice. She claimed management relied on a lack of “upward career trajectory”. The negative review caused her to once again be rejected for a transfer and lose tuition assistance from the company.
According to Fowler, in 2015 when she joined Uber, 25% of the organization was women. By the time she left that number had dropped to 3%. At one point the organization used the drop in women employees as a justification for sexual discrimination, allegedly refusing to provide leather jackets to their female employees because the low numbers meant they would not receive a bulk discount. It was this incident that caused HR to call her in for a “difficult conversation” in which she claimed the representative threatened to fire her for reporting things to HR.
Uber Responds to Whistleblower Blog
Fowler’s blog post went viral, forcing Uber to respond to her allegations of sexual assault. They hired the law firms of Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling to do a probe into the systemic sexism claims. Former Attorney General Eric Holder and Tammy Albarran took a close look at the company’s culture and policies.
In the midst of the probe, another Uber employee came forward, saying he was fired for standing up for female coworkers facing sex-based discrimination and harassment. He alleged that he raised concerns with HR, and was fired soon thereafter.
The probe resulted in Uber firing over 20 employees on June 6, 2017. Forty more were reprimanded or referred to counseling and training. A week later Uber released the lawyers’ recommendations after the board agreed to adopt them all. This will include:
- Changes in senior leadership including removing CEO Travis Kalanick’s responsibilities and promoting Uber’s Head of Diversity, Bernard Coleman
- Cultural changes eliminating policies like “Let Builders Build”, “Always Be Hustlin'”, “Meritocracy and Toe-Stepping” and “Principled Confrontation”
- Increases board oversight of diversity and inclusion efforts
- Developing internal controls including tracking of discrimination and harassment complaints
- Mandatory training for managers, executives, and HR employees
- Emphasizing diversity in inclusion in hiring and training
- Policy changes that make sexual harassment more difficult and transfers easier
- Addressing employee retention concerns
- Review equal pay practices
At that time, Kalanick took a leave of absence as CEO, saying that his direct reports and leadership team would be running the company. On June 21, 2017, he formally resigned.
Susan Fowler’s story shows that a single whistleblower can sometimes bring about changes, even in the biggest tech companies. In an industry facing repeated claims of sexual discrimination, Uber’s response to an engineer’s blog post shows that protection for employees can still happen.
If you are facing sexual harassment or a culture of discrimination at work, you don’t have to hope your blog post goes viral. The skilled employment discrimination attorneys at Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, can negotiate with the company your behalf. We can help you push for change that will help you and your coworkers be able to work free of mistreatment. When negotiations fail, we can take the matter to the EEOC or court. Contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation and get your case started.