Yahoo Finance Uber faces US probe over gender discrimination
A US federal body has launched a gender discrimination investigation into Uber, it has emerged.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is understood to have started the probe in August 2017, seeking information related to hiring practices, pay disparity and gender discrimination.
Investigators have interviewed current and former Uber employees and are seeking documents from the business, according to The Wall Street Journal.
An Uber spokesman said: “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 training to thousands of employees globally.”
Uber has been fighting to improve its reputation following months of upheaval at the company that lead to the departure of its founder Travis Kalanick.
Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced Travis Kalanick last August, has been vocal about improving culture at the ride-sharing business. “We celebrate differences at Uber and are committed to building a culture where everyone feels welcome, supported and challenged,” he said. “To help Uber reach its highest potential, diversity and inclusion needs to be at the core of everything we do.”
Figures from Uber state that 38pc of its global employees are women, compared to 62pc of men. In the past 12 months the company has invested in partnerships with groups such as Girls Who Code, BUILD and SMASH, which target the development and promotion of under-represented people in tech.
Race and ethnicity figures show that 48.6pc of Uber employees in the US are white, 32.3pc are Asian and 8.1pc are black or African American and 6.1pc are Hispanic or Latino.
Last week Uber’s head of human resources resigned after an internal investigation into how she handled employee complaints about racial discrimination.
Anonymous whistleblowers had accused Uber executive Liane Hornsey of dismissing allegations of racial discrimination inside the company.
In February 2017, Uber launched an internal investigation after allegations of sexual harassment by former employee Susan Fowler surfaced. Ms Fowler alleged that she was subjected to sexual advances by fellow employees.
Uber later fired 20 employees following a probe into 215 reports of workplace misconduct and sexual harassment. The company also conducted a wider internal inquiry into its workplace culture, led by former US attorney general Eric Holder.
Uber eventually paid $10m (£7.5m) to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit relating to discrimination against women and minorities inside the company.
The EEOC was approached for comment.
