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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

#341

Post by CydeWeys »

meerita wrote: post #287

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".

I'm worried that the head of HR will be fired as a scapegoat or something, when they were never empowered to truly deal with issues like this in the first place, and that such policy will continue. If the company culture is toxic to begin with, and "high performers" are retained at all cost, firing one head of HR makes no difference if, afterwards, HR is still not going to be empowered with truly addressing these issues.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#342

Post by sinuage »

searealist wrote: post #105
sinuage wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthy Skepticism is well... healthy, but I think at this point there is enough evidence out there to confirm the story. Case in point, a quick look at glassdoor reviews seems to confirm the story. (there's even one that says it's "Not Great for Women" - Sep 2016 although it's not as devastating as this article but the info from that and other reviews seem to support what she's saying) It's disturbing when it seems…

The only thing that review says in reference to women is "Emotionally unintelligent male managers (all the way up to the CEO) make it hard for women to feel heard and valued." This has nothing to do with sexual harassment. There is also talk of long hours, but it is not clear if the reviewer meant that is a negative specific to women or not.

I don't mean to imply that 1 review on glassdoor is the smoking gun. But a bunch of reviews talking about the same issues (not specific to sexual harassment), and other comments and testimonials not on glassdoor seem to point in the same general direction. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt doesn't mean it needs to be incontrovertible.

Let's not miss the forest for the trees here, this isn't about a single case of sexual harassment (at least to me it isn't). It's about how Uber is operating as a business and culture and from that what are its long term prospects.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#343

Post by Hydraulix989 »

cmdrfred wrote: post #281
letientai299 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Suing your employer is often viewed in an extremely bad light by future employers. I'd even go so far as to call it "career suicide."

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#344

Post by cdr »

sangnoir wrote: post #239
afarrell wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, I can confirm that most mentions of her on Reddit that I've seen are very pejorative toward her.

Not sure if your anecdote applies here: as Reddit CEO, she made a number of decisions that were unpopular with mods and users alike - entirely not related to her court action.

And you are a case in point; spez (Steve Huffman, CEO) actually made those decisions and used Pao as a fall-woman.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#347

Post by cmdrfred »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #343
cmdrfred wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Suing your employer is often viewed in an extremely bad light by future employers. I'd even go so far as to call it "career suicide."

You'd have to be at a pretty high level for a future employer to do a public records search on you (not to be confused with a background check), thus the compensation you would receive for a retaliatory firing would likely be in the millions (or tens of millions) of dollars as it is often based on lost income and has a punitive component. You'd likely never have to work again.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#348

Post by settsu »

overcast wrote: post #335

Why does everything involved with UBER, sound like it's run by some type of frat house?

My theory, as a casual observer and not speaking from experience (aside from having been a 20-something white male), is going straight from college to founding a company with m/billions at stake has the tendency to breed and feed unhealthy perspectives. Not always, not inherently, and certainly not irreparably, but ostensibly more often than not for the SV unicorns.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#349

Post by leroy_masochist »

discodave wrote: post #169
xiphias wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 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…

> Here's a list of potential negative outcomes of lawyering up

Aren't most of these potential negative outcomes of suing, not lawyering up?

Having a conversation with a lawyer who specializes in employment law to get a temperature-check on your specific situation (does it qualify as harassment, what are your options, what are likely outcomes of exercising these options given precedent case law, etc) will not result in "having your weird texts, emails, personal life and sexual history being dragged out in a public court case".

Even if you do sue, most lawsuits (especially discrimination ones) are settled out of court, without lascivious details being made public.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#350

Post by hashkb »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #336
freyr wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder how much impact this will have. What were the consequences when Uber management was caught behaving badly in the past? In November 2014, Uber’s senior vice president Emil Michael suggested Uber hire a team of opposition researchers—equipped with a million-dollar budget—to dig into the personal lives of journalists who reported negatively about the company in order to dox, target and harass them and their f…

What actually happened: "Emil was pushing Ben to answer why it was OK for journalists to publish false stories or attack a businessperson’s personal life. Ben was quiet. It was a pretty normal conversation about hypotheticals. There was no malice or yelling or fighting. It was a chat between the two of them that I happened to overhear. The last comment that I heard was when Emil hypothesized about creating a coalitio…

If you are hired by a corporation to respond to journalists, you are in PR, not journalism. You're not motivated by the truth.
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