Uber's HR chief steps down following racial discrimination probe

Uber's Chief People Officer Liane Hornsey has resigned after a third-party firm investigated allegations that she routinely dismissed internal racial discrimination complaints. She joined the company a month before former engineer Susan Fowler penned a blog post talking about the rampant sexual harassment and sexism she endured at Uber. As head of the HR department, Hornsey served as one of the company's top spokespersons on issues regarding diversity and discrimination throughout the upheaval that followed. Bo Young Lee, the ride-hailing firm's first diversity chief, was even ordered to report to her instead of to the company's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

Uber's Chief Legal Officer Tony West ordered a probe into the way she handles discrimination reports after a group of whistleblowers threatened to go public with their complaints if the company doesn't take action. The group, who told Reuters that they're Uber employees of color, also accused Hornsey of using discriminatory language against the company's Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion Bernard Coleman. They claimed that she threatened former executive Bozoma Saint John, who joined the company from Apple Music with the intention of fixing its internal cultural issues, as well.

In the email she sent to her team, Hornsey said her resignation might come "a little out of the blue" for some people, but she has apparently "been thinking about [it] for a while." Khosrowshahi also sent a company-wide email about her resignation, calling her "incredibly talented, creative, and hard-working."

Uber didn't disclose the probe's results, and West told the anonymous complainants that it has no intention to. "Serious allegations alone, even when they turn out to be unsubstantiated, can damage a person's career and reputation, implicating important due process, privacy and moral concerns," he wrote in an email to the whistleblowers, according to Bloomberg. "[W]e should keep in mind that the simple fact that we may not observe disciplinary action doesn't mean serious measures haven't been imposed, if and where appropriate."

Besides Hornsey, Uber has also reportedly lost Tina Lamers, its Head of Product for Advanced Technologies. The Advanced Technologies Group is made up of Uber's engineering team in charge of developing its self-driving vehicles. We reached out to the company to confirm Lamers' departure and to ask how it would affect its driverless car efforts.

Source: Reuters, Caroline O'Donovan (BuzzFeed News), Bloomberg



via Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2unTybs
RSS Feed

If New feed item from http://www.engadget.com/rss-full.xml, then send me

IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic...
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs? ...
Read more