The Wall Street Journal - Uber to Release Findings of Harassment Probe on Tuesday
the media pirate
June 13, 2017. Greg Bensinger.
Uber expected to lay out details and recommendations of probe at all-staff meeting.
On a Sunday afternoon nearly four months ago, a 3,000-word blog post with the seemingly innocuous title, “Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber,” changed the course of the world’s most highly valued startup.
The post, by former Uber Technologies Inc. software engineer Susan Fowler Rigetti, described an aggressive, male-dominated workplace with managers she says ignored her complaints of sexual harassment and sexism. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick condemned the alleged behavior and ordered an immediate investigation led by the law firm of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
On Tuesday, Mr. Holder’s investigation will come to a head when Uber is expected to lay out the probe’s findings and recommendations to 12,000 employees at a weekly all-staff meeting. Uber plans to release an executive summary, not the report itself, to both employees and the media at around 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Companies often conduct such internal investigations, but rarely make them public because of liability and other concerns, say employment law experts. The situation is unique because of the public nature of Ms. Fowler Rigetti’s allegations, which immediately spread on social media and were dissected for weeks in the media.
The outcome carries significant stakes for Uber, which last year was valued by investors at $68 billion. Some employees have said the investigation and other recent controversies have been painful distractions and threaten Uber’s ability to attract talent. The company is in the midst of hiring both a chief operating officer and a finance chief, and will need to fill other positions after losing its heads of other areas including marketing and communications.
Over the past several weeks, Uber workers have been summoned to the nearby San Francisco office of Mr. Holder’s firm, Covington & Burling LLP, to describe their experiences, according to employees who have been interviewed or were requested to be.
Another law firm, Perkins Coie LLP, which Uber hired in part to investigate Ms. Fowler Rigetti’s claims, also brought in workers for interviews. Uber said last week that it received 215 complaints out of that probe, and fired more than 20 workers as a result.
Mr. Holder’s investigation is broader, covering Uber’s management practices, and is designed to recommend specific changes. Those recommendations could include new human-resources processes, chains of command and sensitivity-training programs. The report also is expected to recommend the ousters of certain employees, though the names likely won’t be made public.
On Sunday, Mr. Holder’s firm presented its report to company directors, which unanimously approved all of the recommendations following a marathon board meeting in Los Angeles, according to people familiar with the matter. The fallout of that report was evident Monday, when Uber’s chief business officer, Emil Michael, resigned from the company. His exit, which people familiar with the matter say was recommended by the report, was surprising given his close relationship with Mr. Kalanick.
In her blog post, Ms. Fowler Rigetti claimed a supervisor propositioned her for sex and human-resources officials transferred her to another team instead of addressing her complaints. She said she was told she could either work for another group at the company or risk getting a poor performance review.
Ms. Fowler Rigetti also claimed the company discouraged her from making complaints to human-resources officials. Managers changed her positive performance review to a poor one to deny her a promotion, she wrote. Ms. Fowler Rigetti has declined to comment.
Read more paid articles free: https://t.me/media_pirate