Uber to adopt all of Eric Holder probe’s suggestions after sexual harassment claims: Reports
The company had hired the former US attorney general to investigate its ‘broader culture’ after several complaints of harassment were made.
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Uber Technologies Inc’s board of directors voted in favour of adopting all suggestions proposed by former United States Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured above), following allegations of sexual harassment at the company, Reuters reported on Monday. The development surfaced at a time when The New York Times carried a report about the firm asking its Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick to step down.
Quoting an unidentified board representative, the news agency reported that the board had unanimously agreed to change its cultures and practices at the meeting held on Sunday. A notification about the development will be shared with the company’s staffers on Tuesday, the official said. Among the recommendations was a suggestion to ask Kalanick to step down temporarily and ensure the firm’s senior vice-president of business, Emil Michael, was ousted, The Washington Post reported.
The ride-hailing company had hired Holder in February to conduct an “independent review” to “investigate the company’s broader culture” following sexual harassment allegations made by a former engineer at the company. The engineer, Susan Fowler, had published a blog post claiming she had faced sexism and harassment at the company. The report’s recommendations are expected to pave the way for increased human resources processes and restrictions on expenditure which were under the purview of the firm’s top management, Reuters reported.
Uber had also hired law firm Perkins Coie to look into the complaints.
Recently, Uber fired its Asia-Pacific business head Eric Alexander after it was found that he had made copies of and shared the medical records of a woman who had been raped while using the company’s taxi service in India in 2014. Reports that the firm had laid off more than 20 employees following a company investigation into sexual harassment and other allegations had also surfaced.
Uber has been embroiled in several controversies lately. It faces a lawsuit from Google’s owner Alphabet over allegedly stealing trade secrets from them related to self-driving cars, and separately, a video showing Kalanick involved in an argument with an Uber driver, for which he faced sharp criticism. The company’s Senior Vice President of Engineering Amit Singhal had resigned in February 2017 for failing to inform them a sexual harassment allegation made against him while he had worked at Google.