Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 534 posts

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#91

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

I'm dismayed that articles about sexual harassment in tech often bring up the Ellen Pao case. Her claims were rejected because the jury found that her claims weren't believable, and if you look at the evidence that was presented in the case, I don't think this is an unreasonable conclusion.

If the accusations in this case are true (and, according to the original blog post, there should be plenty of paper trail to back them up), then bringing up the Ellen Pao case does a disservice to Susan Fowler. It would be like bringing up the UVA gang rape case during a discussion of a real case of sexual assault.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#92

Post by csharpminor »

meritt wrote: post #47
gkoberger wrote: post #19

One thing that every employee needs to understand is that HR is not your friend. No matter how friendly or helpful they seem, their job is not to protect you. It's to protect the company.

If HR had actually done their job, Kalanick wouldn't be spending a Sunday night struggling to reattach his unicorn's horn.

HR is just the messenger. This rests squarely on the shoulders of Uber's management. They were informed and refused to act. The buck stops with them.

Also, having the number of woman engineers drop from 25% to less than 3% on that team should have been a red flag well in advance of this ever being published.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#94

Post by aisofteng »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #89
aisofteng wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are assuming that the allegations are true. From what I've heard, it seems plausible that the alleged culture may exist at this company. But I don't take allegations to be true simply because they have been made - as is, in my opinion and in the opinion of the legal system of the United States, the correct perspective.

The allegations are trivially falsifiable. Did multiple women report the same person for harassment? Were multiple accusers told that it was his first offense? If the answer is yes then heads should roll. Why were reporters of harassment falsely told it was the accused harasser's first offense? Good question. There are several possible answers. Some more malicious than others. But they all end with several high level…

If the allegations are true, yes, heads should roll. Why are there no examples of this wealth of evidence that has been claimed to exist?

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#95

Post by toomuchtodo »

rabino wrote: post #5
jen729w wrote: post #2

When someone senior gets fired, I'll start taking them seriously. Until then, it's all PR.

Why would you take them seriously if they fire someone senior just to respond to the public outcry but did nothing when this wasn't public?

Would that mean you could never take Uber seriously as an technology company again? I suppose under certain circumstances a company does deserve a death sentence of sorts in the court of public opinion.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#96

Post by vkazanov »

rubicon33 wrote: post #55
searealist wrote: post #45

I have a hard time believing HR really behaved the way they are portrayed in that article. They really claimed that if she elected to stay in her current department she should expect to receive a negative review from the boss she rejected for a sexual relationship? This is just too much. And for someone as savvy and with as large an internet presence as the author, I can't imagine she would accept this resolution. Th…

Thank you. The swiftness with which the hammer has fallen on Uber, is disturbing. Yes, at face value, this looks bad for Uber. But, the claims here are serious enough that we really should be holding our judgement before an investigation, or some other evidence surfaces. This does not mean I think her claims are false. In fact, I BELIEVE them to be true, but I withhold my judgment and public criticism until I can be…

Finally, some reason!

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#97

Post by tiglilly329 »

tomlock wrote: post #86
tiglilly329 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't excuse all the guilty-until-proven-innocent pitchforking going on right now.

You should abandon your throwaway and talk to some of your lady friends in tech about their experiences. See for yourself if their anecdotes build up into something approaching quantitative - and ask them if anything was ever done about their complaints - or if they even felt safe enough to complain to the people they ought to feel safe around.

What's your point? That harassment occurs frequently and is often mishandled? I never disputed that.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#98

Post by cstejerean »

aisofteng wrote: post #87
Gatsky wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is valid to point out that the allegations are not corroborated. To suggest that the author invented a sexual harassment fantasy to advertise her book is however quite crazy.

It wouldn't be the first time such a thing has happened. I'm not implying that's what this is, because I have no verifiable knowledge of the sitauations. I was pointing out a (possibly chance) correlation that should give pause. That is not "crazy". If the alleged events happened to me, I would find it serious enough of an issue that it would not occur to me to advertise my book when writing about it; conflating a mo…

She was not advertising her book. She used her book as an example to substantiate her claim that her transfer was blocked for bullshit reasons. Seems perfectly appropriate to me.

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#99

Post by tomlock »

camdenlock wrote: post #79
sychophant wrote: post #23

I see nothing wrong with the manager's behavior. Given: ------ - The manager indirectly fished for mutual sexual interest with a subordinate. - Managers and subordinates engage in workplace relationships across the country and the world. They all start with a "proposition" of one kind or another. Only when a manager is shown to abuse their power in support of a personal agenda should there be damages imposed. Not sim…

It's pretty sad that this comment is being flagged into /dev/null. The points are at least thoughtfully constructed and deserve proper responses from those who disagree, not just knee-jerk slamming of the flag button. Conversation is all we have. Let's make use of it.

My response: That comment displays such a blinding lack of empathy that my response only draws attention back to the words of the original post.

Those points are poorly constructed, sociopathic, and worthy of scorn.

:)

Re: Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee

#100

Post by ChuckMcM »

jacobolus wrote: post #49
ChuckMcM wrote: post #17

I wonder how much impact this will have. If they will discipline and fire people and put processes in place to keep the problem fixed, or if they will make a lot of noise about investigation and saying how terrible they feel and not have anything change. Someone here once asked me how I differentiated between a corporation run by people and a corporation structured as an institution. In the latter there are processes…

If you‘re interested in what you call “corporations of people”, one classic sociology paper is about Medici Florence, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~snijders/PadgettAnsell1993.pdf

That is an awesome read! Thanks for the link. A bit long but it articulates the notions of structural control much more clearly than I did.
Post reply on HN