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Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

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Re: Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

#51

Post by joering2 »

zekevermillion wrote: post #25
westbywest wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Under other circumstances I'd agree this is poor strategy w/r/t preparing for possible future legal defense. Detail here may be that Fowler may soon find herself gagged from disclosing further details, especially if surviving terms in her employment contract with Uber allow for it.

If Uber tries to use employee covenants to silence Ms. Fowler, what do you think the reaction is going to be? This is just the beginning. If the problems are as systemic as alleged by Ms. Fowler, the litigation will be working its way through courts for years to come.

It has to be this bad or worse! You dont hire ex attorney general who is corrupted on record (currently works for clients that he initally was investigating as GA and of course never got anywhere) if you dont need a player that has "get free from jail" card.

Re: Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

#52

Post by crispyambulance »

rrggrr wrote: post #20

Pro tip for whistleblowers: Hire an attorney before you blow the whistle, and listen to their advice. Preferably an attorney who has litigated against your employer in the past. If you simply must write a diatribe beforehand then stick the facts of the issue at-hand (eg. discrimination) and avoid the temptation to author a tell all. Even the best future employers will be given pause upon learning of your tell all blo…

I suspect that Fowler may very well have done that (and then some) before even writing the blog post. Looking back in retrospect, the timing was uncannily excellent and very media savvy.

This situation would require immense courage from anyone, and she's been handling it perfectly. I don't think she needs a pro-tip !

Re: Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

#53

Post by joering2 »

bigethan wrote: post #14
mikestew wrote: post #6

Umm, okay. I would fully expect this. Ms. Fowler seems to be a large liability for Uber. I don't find it unreasonable that "Uber has a law firm investigating ", if for no other reason than to find what she knew and when she knew it (or something along those lines), were she to sue what are the potential ramifications, et. al. IOW, I'm not going to run in circles over a seven word tweet that could mean about anything.

The seven words in the HN title are not the tweet. Part of the actual tweet is: "Uber names/blames me for account deletes" That's a much more aggressive approach than the defensive reasoning you're conjuring out of thin air.

By the way - what a stupid logic they apply.

Similarily it would be fine to say that I blame the cop for losing my job because he pulled me over drunk and now I cannot drive to my work with suspended DL.

Re: Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

#55

Post by hsod »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #45
arkona wrote: post #34

I may be missing something but why isn't the burden of proving those allegations on Susan Fowler? Why are we so quick to point fingers at Uber without even giving them the chance to defend themselves? Many people hate Uber and what they do. There is a strong incentive to smear the company. Smearing Uber has been done in the past when the whole #deleteUber was started becaude Uber drivers were not force to participate…

Because Kalanick is awkward and unlikeable. Just look at how he behaves in that video in the back of an Uber - rather than empathizing with his driver and saying nothing substantial, he actually discusses the business reasons for creating UberX. He treated his driver a a rational human being like himself rather than an emotional being to be placated. See also this blog post by Jeff Atwood, where he advocates for poin…

Well put.

I've noticed a phenomenon where people seem to substitute PR/optics for their own morality. That is, people will criticize a public person not for what they've done or said, but for how it looks or how it is likely to be perceived by others.

Re: Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

#56

Post by lhc- »

arkona wrote: post #34

I may be missing something but why isn't the burden of proving those allegations on Susan Fowler? Why are we so quick to point fingers at Uber without even giving them the chance to defend themselves? Many people hate Uber and what they do. There is a strong incentive to smear the company. Smearing Uber has been done in the past when the whole #deleteUber was started becaude Uber drivers were not force to participate…

Uber has a history of sketchy behavior, such as investigating journalists who have written less than complimentary stories. Uber has basically done the Exact thing Fowler is explaining before. To me, that provides a pretty convincing argument that they are more than capable, and more than willing to do it again.

Re: Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

#57

Post by crispyambulance »

arkona wrote: post #34

I may be missing something but why isn't the burden of proving those allegations on Susan Fowler? Why are we so quick to point fingers at Uber without even giving them the chance to defend themselves? Many people hate Uber and what they do. There is a strong incentive to smear the company. Smearing Uber has been done in the past when the whole #deleteUber was started becaude Uber drivers were not force to participate…

Uber has a history of atrocious behavior. If you want to talk about "smearing" ask Sarah Lacy about Uber circa 2014.

As for "the burden of proving" what, exactly, do you expect? Screenshots of the harassment?

The "hard proof" is for a court, if it comes to that, and not you, the general public.

Re: Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

#58

Post by princeb »

i thought the harassment story was bad but did everyone miss the totally malfunctioning hr review process and awful culture in susan's story? I just thought that was the hidden part of the iceberg - that there is some kind of crazy lord of the flies thing going on there that is the root of all the harassment and the other bizarre behaviour between teams there. I just don't see it as a very nice place to work unless you thrive in these kind of lawless every-man-for-himself environment.

Re: Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

#59

Post by RodericDay »

rrggrr wrote: post #20

Pro tip for whistleblowers: Hire an attorney before you blow the whistle, and listen to their advice. Preferably an attorney who has litigated against your employer in the past. If you simply must write a diatribe beforehand then stick the facts of the issue at-hand (eg. discrimination) and avoid the temptation to author a tell all. Even the best future employers will be given pause upon learning of your tell all blo…

"Consult an expensive attorney before you speak out against a powerful person harassing you"

smdh.

Re: Uber has a law firm investigating me – Susan Fowler

#60

Post by zekevermillion »

joering2 wrote: post #51
zekevermillion wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Uber tries to use employee covenants to silence Ms. Fowler, what do you think the reaction is going to be? This is just the beginning. If the problems are as systemic as alleged by Ms. Fowler, the litigation will be working its way through courts for years to come.

It has to be this bad or worse! You dont hire ex attorney general who is corrupted on record (currently works for clients that he initally was investigating as GA and of course never got anywhere) if you dont need a player that has "get free from jail" card.

There does not appear to be genuine contrition, that is for sure...
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