Uber’s name and discrimination have become synonymous over the past ten days. Last week, a lead executive from Uber allegedly resigned after mishandling complaints of racial discrimination. This week, Uber is back in the news for issues of discrimination. A report from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the ride sharing company is now under the guise of the federal government. According to reports, Uber is being investigated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for gender disparities regarding pay and hiring practices. While this news may be new to the general public, the Wall Street Journal reports that this investigation began eleven months ago and the federal government has been interviewing employees and collecting documents ever since.
In response to the investigation becoming public, a spokesperson for Uber stated, “We are continually improving as a company and have proactively made a lot of changes in the last 18 months, including implementing a new salary and equity structure based on the market, overhauling our performance review process, publishing Diversity & Inclusion reports, and rolling out diversity and leadership trainings to thousands of employees globally.”
Uber CEO, Dan Khosrowshahi, also addressed the investigation and the recent dismissal of their HR Executive, Liane Hornsey by saying, “All of those were very, very different circumstances. The EEOC issue, while I can’t talk much about it, has been going on for a long period of time, and happened to show up in the press at this point.”
The EEOC has declined to comment on the investigation until it is completed.
