Uber to investigate sexual harassment claim by former employee
Uber's chief executive has ordered an urgent investigation into a sexual harassment claim made by a former employee who alleged her prospects at the company evaporated when she complained about advances from her boss.
Travis Kalanick responded on Monday on Twitter to an open statement by a former female employee about her year working at the ride-hailing app.
In a blog post, the woman claimed the company's human resources department ignored her complaints because her boss was a high performer.
Mr Kalanick said that what she described "is abhorrent" and "against everything we believe in".
He said he has instructed the company's chief human resources officer to look into the matter, adding "there can be absolutely no place for this kind of behaviour at Uber".
In her blog, the former emplyee said she joined Uber in November 2015.
She alleged that on her first official day with the company, her boss propositioned her in a string of messages on the company chat system. She said as it was "clearly out of line", she immediately took screen shots of the remarks.
"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," she wrote.
The woman, who did not name the manager at issue, left the team. But she claimed as she tried to progress in the company, she found her way blocked. She alleged sexism was rampant in the company, and that when she pointed that out at a company meeting, she was rebuffed.
