Three Latina female engineers have filed suit against Uber for gender and race discrimination. The suit, filed in San Francisco on October 24, 2017, alleges that Uber violated the Equal Pay Act by using a “stack ranking” system. The promotion vehicle is alleged to be an unreliable qualitative method that systematically undervalues female employees and employees of color. The three plaintiffs are represented by Outten & Golden, which has also represented employees in suits against Goldman Sachs and Microsoft.
The suit comes after Uber attempted to amend some of its culture issues. In August, the company instituted a new policy that bumped up the salaries of employees who were not paid the median amount for their jobs. The policy change also included a 2.5% salary increase for each year an employee had worked at Uber.
These changes come after Uber acknowledged its pervasive sexism following a viral blog post detailing an engineer’s experience with rampant sexism and sexual harassment. In response, Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick ultimately resigned. Eric Holder was then hired to review the company’s policies, and Frances Frei of Harvard Business School was brought on board to improve company culture.
Uber is not the only company facing similar charges. Google, Tesla, and Microsoft have been the subject of discrimination lawsuits in recent months. Given the pervasiveness of these suits, it is possible that more employees will come forward in the future. With more employees beginning to speak out, these suits may mark a watershed moment in the technology industry.