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Former Engineer Says Uber Is a Nightmare of Sexism; CEO Orders Urgent Investigation (susanjfowler.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report on The Verge: A former Uber engineer has published an explosive account of sexism and power struggles in the workplace, with allegations beginning from her very first official day with the company. The engineer, Susan Fowler (who left Uber in December and now works for Stripe), posted the account to her blog on Sunday, calling it a "strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story." It is indeed horrifying. Sexism is a well-documented problem in Silicon Valley, but the particulars of Fowler's account are astounding. She says problems began on day one, when her manager accosted her with details of his sex life: "In my first official day rotating on the team, my new manager sent me a string of messages over company chat. He was in an open relationship, he said, and his girlfriend was having an easy time finding new partners but he wasn't. He was trying to stay out of trouble at work, he said, but he couldn't help getting in trouble, because he was looking for women to have sex with. It was clear that he was trying to get me to have sex with him, and it was so clearly out of line that I immediately took screenshots of these chat messages and reported him to HR. 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 offense, 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. The things only get worse for Fowler. Read the full account of her story here. In the meanwhile, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said the company would "conduct an urgent investigation" into the allegations, and promised to fire anyone who "behaves this way or thinks this is OK."
Journalist Paul Carr summing up the situation, says, "Uber's ability to be on the wrong side of every moral and ethical issue is bordering on magical."
Journalist Paul Carr summing up the situation, says, "Uber's ability to be on the wrong side of every moral and ethical issue is bordering on magical."
As much as Slashdot likes to believe that sexism is imaginary, this behavior is pretty common in tech. Frankly, I've seen worse.
If you read the article you'll learn that HR lied about this being the first offense. It was just one of many.
Did you read the rest of the article which makes clear that this was not, in fact, this guys first offense?
If you read just a smidge further in TFA, you'll see that in discussions with other female coworkers, she discovered that he had propositioned them as well, and also been told by HR that it was his first offense when they complained. How many "first offenses" is this guy good for?
Given that HR lied, and this wasn't his first offence, yes he should have been fired.
Another appropriate action would be to move the manager somewhere else.
Oh, silly AC. Any boss asking any subordinate to fuck them is harassment.
I don't respond to AC's.
True, although apparently TFS doesn't mention that this wasn't his first offense and he's like this all the damn time, so HR lied. First mistake, you learn; second mistake, you fucked up twice the same way.
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Would you advocate the same punishment if it was female looking for sex I wonder?
Yes, I would. Immediate firing, no questions asked. Completely unacceptable, and if a person doesn't know that, that's just as good reason for letting that person go. Somebody with such poor decision making skills is a liability in many ways.
I don't respond to AC's.
Yes. Is that hard to understand?
You and the morons who modded you up need to RTFA. Here, I'l bold the important parts so you don't have to work so hard.
Over the next few months, I began to meet more women engineers in the company. As I got to know them, and heard their stories, I was surprised that some of them had stories similar to my own. Some of the women even had stories about reporting the exact same manager I had reported, and had reported inappropriate interactions with him long before I had even joined the company. It became obvious that both HR and management had been lying about this being "his first offense", and it certainly wasn't his last. Within a few months, he was reported once again for inappropriate behavior, and those who reported him were told it was still his "first offense".
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
You did not read the article, did you?
It wasn't his first offence, although HR lied about this, claiming that it was.
He didn't knock it off. Also, her career at the company was affected because she made the report.
What he did should have resulted in an instant dismissal. Retaliation should have resulted in dismissals. Covering up the prior acts by the man should have resulted in dismissals in HR.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Says right there in the mantra: *What the market will bear* Abuse, violence, cheating, lying... If the market will bear it, what's the problem? It's all perfectly good if the government stays out of it, amirite?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Considering it happened several times before, this time absolutely.
Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
This story proves you wrong. The guy who propositioned her has done it many times before, and many times since, with zero consequences. Apparently he was too valuable to the company, or they just didn't care.
The other comments also prove you wrong. People are making nuanced arguments, suggesting that merely politely asking for a date once is not a problem, for example. The world is clearly not as polarized as you think.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The amount of Anonymous Cowards posting the same couple lines makes it obvious. This thread is being astroturfed.
Women are making more money than men for the same job and same amount of work today, especially in cities. Stop reading a bogus 30 year old paper crafted for a narrative and check current reports. or This or This or This and of course This Interestingly most of these are LEFT leaning sites, not Right/Conservative.
PolitiFact has given you the nuts and bolts about the 77 cents statistic -- you can read the two most important works in this area here and here. Basically, there is a wage gap, but it tends to disappear when you compare women and men in the exact same jobs who have the same levels of experience and education. (emphasis mine)
Just like 60% of all College students are women, 56% of all College graduates with advanced degrees are women. Yet we continue to hear that we need more women in college.
I'm an egalitarian, not a MRA. I also happen to believe in Socrates' definition of Philosopher, who must seek truth even at their own peril. Sadly the left avoids all truth and distorts everything they can for division and agenda.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
After Ellen Pao, UNLV, Duke LaCrosse, and countless false police reports (resulting in legal action) about discrimination I'm waiting for evidence. Chat logs, screen shots, and email logs should be enough to prove the case. TFA reports no such evidence.
So, you post this, but don't bother to read the actual account?
From the actual account:
It was clear that he was trying to get me to have sex with him, and it was so clearly out of line that I immediately took screenshots of these chat messages and reported him to HR.
I know, I know, they cleverly hid it behind the first link in the story.
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.