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Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

nytimes.com

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Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#281

Post by cmdrfred »

letientai299 wrote: post #209
discodave wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to have this attitude until I heard harassment stories from two close personal friends in the last year. It's really hard to come forward, especially if you're early in your career and struggled to get any job in the first place. Apart from potentially being difficult emotionally there are tons of negative outcomes that could come from taking the legal route Here's a list of potential negative outcomes of lawy…

I feel sad that there's are so many reasons that stop you to d the RIGHT THING. What is the better way then, beside leaving the company despite doing your job very well?

My advice, save some money, get your resume ready and sue. If they fire you, then sue for retaliation as well.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#282

Post by ethbro »

HelloNurse wrote: post #262
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. The "HR is not your friend" trope gets thrown out a lot, but in cases where your goals align with the company's (i.e. you don't want to get harassed, and the company doesn't want to get sued), HR is the place you should be able to go.

Reading between the lines of Mrs. Fowler's account, the company's goal was being nice to a more important employee than her: a common situation in sexual harassment cases and other workplace conflicts.

I'd also point out the possibility that Uber HR has no power... or upper HR management (formerly Renee Atwood, now Liane Hornsey?) is complicit.

They have a management chain just like everyone else, and if the person at the top (or the person above them) says "We're not going to discipline this guy" then the best HR can do is try to deescalate the situation.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#283

Post by theWatcher37 »

DanBC wrote: post #234
hueving wrote: post #233

>Ms. Fowler’s account is another sign of Silicon Valley’s struggle with women’s issues and diversity in a male-dominated engineering environment. In 2015, the venture capital world was put under the microscope when Ellen Pao, a former partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, claimed in a lawsuit that she was discriminated against at the blue-chip venture firm because of her gender — a case she lost. This paragrap…

> (this behavior doesn't match the 6 companies I've worked at) Why do you think women would tell you about their experiences? I've read your comments on HN, and you'd be the last person I'd tell if it had happened to me.

What a hateful and oddly specific comment.

"I've read your comments"

Yeah, ok buddy

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#284

Post by Baeocystin »

HelloMcFly wrote: post #274
thewhitetulip wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Should be able to go Yes, in theory. But most HRs "protect the org" in the most short sighted way possible

I'm an HR professional. I've done extensive consulting to organization of people processes and HR functioning. I've found that companies typically get what they pay for in their HR department. Many organization echo the sentiment that many contributors on HN have (i.e., that HR is a sometimes necessary evil; the people are marginally skilled; etc.). Organizations that have that mentality of HR hire HR teams that are…

I agree with your assessment. Quality insight is worth the price, and lack of it will ultimately cost more, whether you want it to or not.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#285

Post by ar15saveslives »

mistercow wrote: post #102
thinkloop wrote: post #51

These are allegations by one party against another with zero data either way, why is everyone on the anti-uber bandwagon.

Sooner or later, the truth is going to come out. Fowler knows this. There's no room for ambiguity here: either Uber has broken the law extravagantly , or she's lying. If the latter is true, she will be crucified for it. The defamation suit alone would be monumental. And again, there's no ambiguity. She says she has extensive records of this behavior. That's not something she can really walk back. In a situation where…

It would be great to see the messages and hearing the other side. How did "definitely he wanted sex with me" message look like? With modern overreaction culture it can be just smiley at the end of message. I've seen women in tech that accused their male-dominated teams in sexism just because they couldn't keep up with the rest of team and/or guys didn't hang up with women for different reasons.

SJWs made a good job, I don't believe anyone without a) seeing the evidence with my own eyes b) listening to both sides of the conflict.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#286

Post by theWatcher37 »

farnsworth wrote: post #31
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #29

>Ms. Fowler’s account is another sign of Silicon Valley’s struggle with women’s issues and diversity in a male-dominated engineering environment. That's a hell of a claim since this is a "typical corporate America" type of problem.

Well there are some typical corporate American companies that have this problem. But I would argue that (almost?) all tech companies have this problem.

All?!

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#287

Post by meerita »

After reading the entire blog post, and also reading that the CEO is concerned, I want heads rolling. Specially those who were involved from HR, managers. I think it will centrate the people on doing their job, not doing anything aside from this.

What a bad image UBER is getting for toxic "high performers".

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#288

Post by crispyambulance »

xiphias wrote: post #154
dclowd9901 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure they're not your friend, but Jesus Christ, the amount of legal trouble this particular HR establishment exposed themselves to through their actions is breathtaking. THAT'S their job: to prevent the company from getting sued!! In this case I'm completely bewildered as to why HR handled this particular situation so clumsily.

Sure..the thing I don't understand is why she didn't go to a lawyer? That would have been the next logical step for me. At least 1 person should get to prison if there is enough evidence collected by multiple women.

I think what Fowler did was very brave and perhaps far more impactful than hiring a lawyer.

This is hitting all the major news outlets, the CEO and the board are already promising "urgent" investigative action. And, oh yeah, a company valued at multi-billions is about to be hit with publicity which they will pay dearly for as #deleteuber starts trending again, at a time when angry people are sick of reading about the latest Trump zinger.

In the best case scenario a lawyer would have gotten her a modest pay out in exchange for shutting up, far more likely however would be a disappointing outcome and blacklisting.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#289

Post by cheetos »

xiphias wrote: post #154
dclowd9901 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure they're not your friend, but Jesus Christ, the amount of legal trouble this particular HR establishment exposed themselves to through their actions is breathtaking. THAT'S their job: to prevent the company from getting sued!! In this case I'm completely bewildered as to why HR handled this particular situation so clumsily.

Sure..the thing I don't understand is why she didn't go to a lawyer? That would have been the next logical step for me. At least 1 person should get to prison if there is enough evidence collected by multiple women.

If only it was that simple. Most people cannot afford justice in the US.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#290

Post by daemin »

chimeracoder wrote: post #42
obstinate wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this truism a lot, along with "companies must put the profit obligation first." It's only true in a very limited technical sense. When someone is harassing you, "protecting the company" generally means making sure that person doesn't harass you or anyone else, often by firing them. Because if they don't, the company is at risk of massive liability. That doesn't mean they can't be terrible at their jobs, or fai…

It's true, and to some extent the problem is that you hear about the bad HR stories, but rarely the good ones - in which they quietly take action, but nobody except the parties involved ever notice. When HR does their job right, nobody other than those people even notices that they're there. That said, lots of companies have HR departments that are terrible, so it all depends on whether you think yours is trustworthy…

Kind of the same can be said about IT. If they do their job correctly then nobody should notice they are there.

Also about finance/payroll and others.

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