According to the blog post, the sexual harassment started on Susan’s first day when a manager targeted her with inappropriate text messages through the company chat. Susan claims the manager mentioned he was in an open relationship and looking to have sex with other women. After receiving the disturbing messages, Susan went to human resources. She expected HR to do their jobs and reprimand the manager. Instead, she claims HR told her the manager was a “high performer” and they did not feel comfortable punishing him over an innocent mistake.
The blog post alleges Uber gave her the choice of working on another team or facing retaliation from the manager responsible for the sexual harassment.
Susan chose another team at Uber. After arriving at her new position, Susan heard from other women at Uber who suffered similar experiences. Some of these women had reported the same manager who harassed Susan. Her experience (and possible the experiences of other women) only deteriorated in the months that followed.
At one point, an engineering director had allegedly promised to order the leather jackets for all the site reliability engineers (SREs). Susan claims an email that came months later stated women would not receive the jackets, as there were not enough female SREs to justify the order. Near the end of her time at Uber, Susan claims she was threatened with job termination for reporting this email.
Why Workplace Discrimination Against Women is Illegal
Sexual harassment and discrimination against women are illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Employers are also barred from retaliating against workers who report discrimination or harassment.
If you have experienced similar circumstances, you may have legal options. The Los Angeles employment law lawyers at Kesluk, Silverstein, Jacob & Morrison, P.C. can review your case and help