Uber agrees to $1.9-million settlement in sexual harassment cases
The company said the payout amount was ‘fair, reasonable and adequate’.
Uber Technologies has agreed to pay $1.9 million (approximately Rs 13.28 crore) to settle sexual harassment claims of 56 current and former employees in the United States, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Each of them will receive about $33,928.57 (approximately Rs 23.72 lakh).
Besides the agreement, it will also pay nearly $11,000 (approximately Rs 7.6 lakh) as part of a class action case filed by 485 people who alleged discrimination at the workplace. The class action case is being led by two Latina engineers who allege they were being paid less than their Asian and white counterparts. The two employees had filed their claim in October 2017, alleging harassment and a hostile work environment because of their gender and ethnicity.
A court approval is required for the agreement to be finalised. Uber issued a statement claiming that it agreed with the plaintiff’s motion and that the amounts it would have to pay out were “fair, reasonable and adequate”, BBC reported.
In July, Uber Technologies Inc’s Chief People Officer Liane Hornsey resigned following an investigation into how she handled allegations of racial discrimination at the company. She held the post for about 18 months, a period during which the company faced allegations of gender discrimination and sexual harassment. The charges eventually led to an investigation by former United States Attorney General Eric Holder, followed by Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick’s resignation.
The investigation began after a former employee alleged sexual harassment and sexism at the company in a blogpost in February 2017. The woman, who had worked for Uber between November 2015 and December 2016, also alleged that the company’s human resources department did not act on her accusations.
In June 2017, 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 Delhi in 2014. He is believed to have shown the medical records to Kalanick and Uber Senior Vice President Emil Michael.