Mass termination follows allegations that ride-hailing company ignored employee claims that they were harassed
Uber Technologies has fired more than 20 people after an internal investigation into the company’s culture, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Law firm Perkins Coie, which led the probe, reviewed 215 human-resources claims by Uber employees, include allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and other issues. The company took no action in 100 cases, 20 workers were dismissed and 31 are receiving counseling. Names of those dismissed were not released.
News of the terminations were first reported by Bloomberg News.
The ride-hailing company has been rocked by a series of scandals this year, including a widely circulated blog post by former engineer Susan Fowler in which she described being propositioned by her manager and stonewalled by the company’s leadership when she reported the behavior.
Uber hired former U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a separate investigation into the allegations. The results of that probe will be released to Uber’s board on Tuesday, according to reports. It is not certain whether they will be made public.
As Uber has come under public scrutiny, a number of senior executives have left the company. Nine top employees, including Uber’s chief spokesperson, president of ridesharing, head of finance and senior vice president of engineering, have left since February.
Arianna Huffington, who joined Uber’s board in 2016, said earlier this year that there are no problems with sexual harassment problem at Uber. The company’s human resources head in May told USA Today that Uber’s culture is no worse than that of other businesses.
Uber on Monday announced the hiring of Frances Frei, a high-profile academic and management consultant, as its first ever senior vice president of operations. Frei, who worked on gender-equity issues at Harvard Business School, will be tasked with everything from turning around Uber’s culture to recruitment and management training.
