A former software engineer at Uber has filed a lawsuit in a California Superior Court accusing the ride-hailing company of retaliating against her because she reported sexual discrimination and harassment.
The complaint was filed by Ingrid Avendaňo, who between 2014 and 2017 worked for Uber and alleges that the Uber workplace included marginalizing, degrading, discriminatory as well as sexually harassing conduce to females.
The account made Avendaňo and her claim that the culture was condoned and perpetuated by several managers, including company leaders at high levels, is similar to a description of the internal culture at Uber that Susan Fowler presented.
The complaint made by Avendaňo at San Francisco County Superior Court of California claims that at the time she attempted to report the misconduct, she received immediate retaliation that included denial of raises and promotions, unwarranted poor performance reviews, and placed on an on-call schedule that was oppressively demanding that was detrimental to her health. In addition, she received termination threats and eventually resigned her position at Uber, said the lawsuit.
Avendaňo is being represented by the law firm Outten & Golden that specializes in cases involving employees’ rights. In October of 2017, Avendaňo as well as a pair of other software engineers who are also Latina were the plaintiffs named in a class-action suit that was filed against Uber for alleged discrimination toward women as well as people of color.
However, at a later date Avendaňo opted out of that particular collective action, said the offices of Outten & Golden, and did not take part when Uber came to an agreement on a settlement back in March of 2018. Avendaňo’s lawsuit filed on Tuesday, said the law firm, is separate from the settlement reached in March.
Uber has been besieged the last two years by scandals and has caused several high-ranking executives in the company to resign or be fired.
