INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A former Uber software engineer filed a lawsuit against the company today in the Superior Court of California, accusing it of retaliating
against her for after she reported sexual harassment and discrimination.
The complaint byIngrid Avendaño, who worked at Uber from 2014 to
2017, alleges that Uber workplace &was permeated with degrading, marginalizing, discriminatory and sexually harassing conduct toward women.&
Avendaño account and her claim that &this culture was perpetuated and condoned by numerous managers, including high level company leaders&
is similar to the description of Uber internal culture presented by Susan Fowler, also a former Uber engineer, in her pivotalFebruary 2017
Fowler account led to an internal investigation, multiple firings and, along with other company scandals, contributed to the resignation of
CEO Travis Kalanick.
Avendaño complaint (&Ingrid Avendaño v
Uber Technologies, Inc.,& Case No
CGC-18-566677 in the Superior Court ofCalifornia, San Francisco County) claims that when she tried to report misconduct, she faced &blatant
retaliation, including denial of promotions and raises, unwarranted negative performance reviews and placement on an oppressively demanding
on-call schedule that had detrimental effects on her health
She was also threatened with termination.& Avendaño eventually resigned from Uber, the lawsuit says.
Avendaño is represented by Outten
Golden, a law firm that specializes in employee rights
Last October, Avendaño and two other Latina software engineers were the named plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Uber for
allegedly discriminating against women and people of color
But Avendaño later opted out of the collective action and, according to Outten Golden, did not participate when Uber agreed to a
The lawsuit filed by Avendaño today is separate from that settlement.
