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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Uber has agreed to pay $4.4m to settle claims it allowed employees to be sexually harassed and then allowed retaliation against them when they came forward.
In a deal struck with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) this week, the ride broker has agreed to put the money into a fund that will be used by the EEOC to pay back those employees who were faced with harassment. The commission described Uber as allowing "a culture of sexual harassment and retaliation against individuals who complained about such harassment."
The fund will be available to employees who believe they experienced harassment and/or retaliation for reporting harassment between January 2014 and June 2019. That period covers the bulk of the reign of Travis Kalanick, the founder and CEO, whose "tech bro" culture was blamed for creating a notoriously hostile climate for women working at Uber.
Kalanick would eventually step down from the company and, under new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber has undertaken a prolonged charm offensive in an effort to clean up its public image.
The $4.4m fund will be the latest step in that effort, as Uber has agreed to not only pay up the money, but also establish what was described as "a system for identifying employees who have been the subject of more than one harassment complaint and for identifying managers who fail to respond to concerns of sexual harassment in a timely manner."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by canopic jug on Wednesday December 25 2019, @10:39AM
It lives on venture capital until such time as either that runs out or they finish knocking the bottom out of the taxi market, whichever comes first. If they progress enough towards establishing a job sector which consists entirely of gigs without benefits or stable hours and in which the chumps are providing their own equipment, work space, and maintenance, then they will leverage that to extend into other sectors. The damage is already being felt. Employees are already getting ripped off elsewhere based on the example that Uber sets and "employees" commnly have zero-hour contracts unless they are both in a strong position as well as strong negotiators. A few places are even starting to rent work space and equipment to these zero-hour employees.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.