Uber agrees to pay $10 million in discrimination lawsuit settlement
The lawsuit represents 420 women and people of color who work for the company.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that Uber has agreed to a $10 million settlement in a class action lawsuit that claimed it discriminated against minorities and women who worked for the company. The lawsuit was filed in October and represents 420 women and people of color who were employed by Uber as software engineers going back to 2013. Additionally, the Chronicle reports that the company has also agreed to change how it manages compensation and promotion. The lawsuit alleged that women, black and Latino/Latina employees were not given raises, bonuses, stock and benefits at the same rate as male and white or Asian coworkers.
Uber has had an ongoing problem with discrimination and harassment. Former Uber employee Susan Fowler detailed her experience with harassment at the company last year in a blog post and Uber later fired more than 20 employees for harassment following an internal investigation. Earlier this year Uber hired its first chief diversity officer -- a move that was recommended by those conducting a probe into the company's culture.
"This settlement involves claims dating back to July 2013 and, while we are continually improving as a company, we have proactively made a lot of changes since then," Uber said in a statement. "In the past year alone we have implemented a new salary and equity structure based on the market, overhauled our performance review process, published our first Diversity & Inclusion report and created and delivered diversity and leadership trainings to thousands of employees globally."
The judge handling the case still has to approve the settlement and a hearing has been scheduled for May 1st.