discrimination
Latest
Labor board says Google legally fired diversity memo writer
James Damore may claim Google was wrong to fire him over his memo criticizing the company's diversity culture, but a federal government overseer begs to differ. The National Labor Relations Board has published a January memo recommending a dismissal of Damore's then-active complaint. Board attorney Jayme Sophir found that Damore was protected under federal law when he criticized Google, but that he wasn't protected when he suggested that women were biologically inferior at programming. His remarks were likely to create "serious dissension and disruption" in the workplace, Sophir said, and that actuallly happened -- women pulled their candidacy for engineering positions after hearing of Damore's memo.
US appeals court says Tinder Plus pricing is discriminatory
They say all's fair in love and war, but those that have used Tinder will probably disagree. And that includes Allan Candelore, a man suing the dating app over the pricing of its premium service, Tinder Plus. Candelore and his lawyers argue that charging $9.99 a month to users under 30, and $19.99 a month to those over 30, is age discrimination, and violates two California laws: the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Unfair Competition Law.
Ex-Google employee behind anti-diversity memo sues for discrimination (updated)
James Damore, the Google employee who was fired after circulating an anti-diversity memo last August, isn't over his dismissal apparently as he has now filed a lawsuit against his former employer. Damore filed a class-action complaint today in a California court alongside another former Google employee, David Gudeman. Both men say they were "ostracized, belittled and punished for their heterodox political views, and for the added sin of their birth circumstances of being Caucasians and/or males."
Uber, but for toxic techbro culture
Some companies are just born with an infinite number of chances to keep doing everything wrong and yet somehow seem immune to the consequences. Uber is one of those companies. Uber's latest scandal -- a fat hack and its dirty coverup -- is just one in a long line of Uber-riffic examples on just how far a certain kind of privilege gets you.
Facebook temporarily stops advertisers from filtering by race
A year ago, ProPublica discovered they -- and conceivably anyone else -- could make ads on Facebook that weren't shown to certain ethnic or racial groups. The social network claimed it would fix the issue and prevent legally-prohibited advertising discrimination on its platform. Weeks ago, ProPublica repeated its experiment and again found it possible to exclude ads along ethnic and racial lines. In response, Facebook has temporarily halted this advertising feature while it investigates how it has been used.
ProPublica: Facebook advertisers can still discriminate by race
A year ago, ProPublica discovered that Facebook let advertisers select who would see ads based on 'ethnic affinity.' Because the social network doesn't ask users to disclose their racial identity, Facebook collects data and assigns each a preference for content that aligns with those the network believes coincide with an ethnic group. Advertisers then had the choice to target -- or avoid -- users based on their 'ethnic identity,' which would violate the Fair Housing Act. Shortly thereafter, an apologetic Facebook said it would shut down 'ethnic affinity' ads for housing and jobs. But ProPublica just released a new report confirming they could still make dozens of rental housing ads that discriminated against certain ethnic groups -- and Facebook approved all of them.
Tesla: Racial harassment lawsuit is a 'hotbed of misinformation'
Tonight Tesla responded to a report of another lawsuit where a former worker, Marcus Vaughn, said he suffered from racial harassment at the company's Fremont, CA assembly line. In a blog post titled "Hotbed of Misinformation," Tesla calls its response (firing three people who worked on or near his team) a "fair and just response to the facts that we learned." It also disputed Vaughn's account on several points, including whether he complained to Elon Musk about the harassment, and claiming he wasn't fired, but that his contract with a temp agency was not renewed.
Tesla hit with another lawsuit claiming a racist work environment (updated)
Tesla is the subject of another lawsuit regarding racism in the workplace, Bloomberg reports. An employee has filed a suit against the company saying that Tesla's production floor is a "hotbed for racist behavior," and that over 100 employees have experienced racial harassment. In the complaint, which was filed today, they said, "Although Tesla stands out as a groundbreaking company at the forefront of the electric car revolution, its standard operating procedure at the Tesla factory is pre-Civil Rights era race discrimination."
Uber faces another lawsuit alleging gender and race discrimination
Things have been relatively quiet on the Uber front recently, at least in regard to lawsuits, as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi gets his new house in order. That changed today, as Reuters reports that three female engineers are suing Uber for racial and gender discrimination. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday at California's Superior Court in San Francisco.
Cleveland residents take AT&T broadband complaint to the FCC
In March, two organizations -- Connect Your Community and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance -- alleged that AT&T had been practicing "digital redlining" in lower income Cleveland neighborhoods. The report released by the groups presented evidence showing that AT&T had not upgraded its broadband infrastructure in those neighborhoods though it had done so nearly everywhere else in the county. Now, a formal FCC complaint has been filed against AT&T.
Google employee's anti-diversity screed enrages coworkers (updated)
For all the talk of improving diversity in technology companies and getting employees to treat each other with respect, it's clear that there's still a long way to go. Motherboard has learned that a Google staffer infuriated many of his coworkers after publishing a viral document attacking the company's purported "ideological echo chamber." He contended that women had low representation in software engineering due to biological differences (because they prefer people more than things, he claims), and said that the company should drop attempts to include different cultures and genders to instead focus on accommodating conservative social views.
In astronomy, women of color face the most discrimination
There's tons of evidence that women face a gender bias in the STEM fields. Last May, one report found that Facebook rejects female-authored code more often than code written by men. A female engineer who featured prominently in a recruiting advertisement faced a backlash for her gender alone. Even US governors are taking up the fight to get more girls interested in science and engineering because it's crucial to the field and the national economy. Unfortunately, a study by Girls Who Code found that the gender gap in computing is getting worse. The bad news continues with results from a new study that show women of color working in the astronomical and planetary fields experience "the highest rates of negative workplace experiences, including harassment and assault."
Study suggests Airbnb hosts are unfair to people with disabilities
A recent study conducted by researchers at Rutgers University found evidence that Airbnb hosts might be less likely to rent to people with disabilities. But there are some important limitations to consider in regards to the findings. The researchers created fake profiles with pictures of white men around 30 years of age and messaged nearly 4,000 Airbnb listings across the country. When inquiring about the host's listing, some of the "renters" would ask if the unit was accessible to one of four disabilities: blindness, dwarfism, cerebral palsy or a spinal cord injury.
Uber CEO linked to escort bar visit that resulted in an HR complaint
In case you were counting, it has been more than a month since Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced an investigation into claims of sexual harassment and discrimination within his company. Tonight The Information reports that in 2014, Kalanick senior VP of business Emil Michael and several other employees visited an "escort-karaoke bar." Within minutes of that article being published, another report from Arizona revealed that one of the company's self-driving cars has been involved in an accident. In a story recounted by Gabi Holzwarth, a professional violinist and business development manager who was dating Kalanick at the time, four other men in the group picked out their favorites from a group of numbered women and proceeded downstairs to sing karaoke. Holzwarth and Kalanick left the rest of the group behind after about 45 minutes. A female Uber manager in the group was "visibly unhappy," quickly left and made a report to HR about it a year later.
Tesla engineer sues over sexist workplace culture (updated)
If it wasn't already evident that Silicon Valley's issues with sexist culture extend beyond Uber, it is now. Tesla engineer AJ Vandermeyden has revealed that she's suing her employer over allegations that the electric car maker ignored complaints of discrimination and "pervasive harassment." She says she was paid less than men she replaced, and that she and fellow female engineers weren't given promotions even though they were at least as qualified as men. The harassment, meanwhile, included "inappropriate language, whistling and catcalls," according to the lawsuit.
Oracle faces Labor Department lawsuit over job discrimination
Google isn't the only Silicon Valley staple facing a lawsuit over the fairness of its hiring practices. The US Department of Labor has sued Oracle for allegedly conducting discriminatory employment practices. The enterprise tech giant is accused of paying white male workers more than minorities and women in similar positions, and of favoring Asian people for "technical roles." The lawsuit isn't coming out of the blue, though -- it's really the culmination of a battle that started when an investigation began in 2014.
Uber and Lyft answer concerns about discrimination
A study published earlier this year documenting the discrimination ride-hailing passengers face compelled Senator Al Franken to call Uber's and Lyft's attention. Now, the Senator's office has published the companies' responses to the letter he sent on November 2nd. While it sounds like both services are already making changes, both stand by their practices. The study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed 1,500 rides in Boston and Seattle. It found that riders with black-sounding names usually have to wait 35 percent longer to be picked up and are twice more likely to have their ride canceled.
Facebook runs afoul of German hate speech laws
Facebook has been getting into trouble for its discriminatory content a lot lately, and it recently yielded to pressure about some of its practices in the US. But the social networking giant could face tougher restrictions in Germany around the content posted by its members. According to The New York Times, Facebook came under fire there for its failure to, in a timely manner, remove a post that targeted Jewish people and businesses.
Facebook disables 'ethnic affinity' ads for housing, jobs
Facebook will disable settings that let advertisers exclude racial and ethnic groups when buying ads for housing, employment or credit, the company wrote in a blog post. It first started allowing "ethnic affinity" marketing several years ago, letting advertisers target specific multicultural groups. However, Propublica noticed that it was able to place housing ads that excluded African Americans, Hispanics, and other groups. That caught the eye of the Congressional Black Caucus, which called it a violation of the Fair Housing Act.
Black Caucus: Facebook ads violate discrimination laws
Facebook's practice of letting advertisers exclude racial groups from targeted ads has caught the eye of US lawmakers. "We are writing to express our deep concerns with reports that Facebook's 'Ethnic Affinities' advertising customization feature allows for advertisers to exclude specific racial and ethnic groups when placing housing advertisements," the Congressional Black Caucus said in a letter to Facebook. "This is in direct violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968."
