The chief executive of Uber has ordered an “urgent investigation” into claims of sexual harassment described on former employee Susan Fowler’s blog.
Susan Fowler wrote in the blog post that she was subjected to sexual advances but, when this was reported to human resources officials and management, they declined to punish the offender.
“I expected that I would report him to HR, they would handle the situation appropriately, and then life would go on – unfortunately, things played out quite a bit differently. When I reported the situation, I was told by both HR and upper management that even though this was clearly sexual harassment and he was propositioning me, it was this man’s first offence, and that they wouldn’t feel comfortable giving him anything other than a warning and a stern talking-to.
“Upper management told me that he “was a high performer” (i.e. had stellar performance reviews from his superiors) and they wouldn’t feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake on his part”, Fowler wrote on her blog, posted on Sunday.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick gave a statement on the issue.
“I have just read Susan Fowler’s blog. What she describes is abhorrent and against everything Uber stands for and believes in. It’s the first time this has come to my attention so I have instructed Liane Hornsey our new Chief Human Resources Officer to conduct an urgent investigation into these allegations. We seek to make Uber a just workplace and there can be absolutely no place for this kind of behaviour at Uber — and anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is OK will be fired.”
Fowler described on the blog that when she joined first joined the taxi company, the division she worked in was made up of more than 25 percent women. When she left Uber, only three percent of the 150 or so engineers were women.
These harassment and discrimination claim is among the latest scandal to hit Uber. There was a viral #DeleteUber campaign centred on Kalanick’s participation on Donald Trump’s economic advisory council.