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Uber has hired the former US attorney general Eric Holder to investigate allegations of sexual harassment after an engineer went public with claims that she repeatedly faced sexism and discrimination at the ride-sharing company.

In a staff email shared with the Guardian on Monday, Ubers CEO, Travis Kalanick, said Holder would conduct an independent review and also revealed that women made up only 15% of the companys workforce in engineering, product management and scientist roles.

The hiring of Holder, who was attorney general under Barack Obama, comes as the description of harassment from Susan Fowler, a former site reliability engineer, has gone viral, prompting women across Silicon Valley to share stories of facing misconduct and discrimination in the male-dominated tech industry.

Its been a tough 24 hours. I know the company is hurting, Kalanick said in his email. It is my number one priority that we come through this a better organization where we live our values and fight for and support those who experience injustice.

Fowlers lengthy account on her blog alleged that management and the HR department at the San Francisco-based company frequently dismissed documented cases of sexual harassment, protected a repeat offender and threatened to fire her for raising concerns.

Fowler, who declined to comment further on Monday, alleged in her post that a manager immediately propositioned her for sex when she joined in late 2015, and that a director explained the dwindling number of women in her organization by saying the women of Uber just needed to step up and be better engineers.

Fowler, who now works for technology company Stripe, said a manager harassed her with messages on the company chat system but did not face any consequences from HR despite her providing screenshots. She said she later learned that other women had complained about his inappropriate behavior.

Upper management told me that he was a high performer -- and they wouldnt feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake, she wrote.

In one anecdote, she said managers had promised staff leather jackets but ultimately decided not to order them for women because there were not enough women in the organization to justify placing an order.

Following her complaint about that incident, an HR representative asked if I had ever considered that I might be the problem, she said. Her manager also later told her she was on thin ice and that if she filed another report, she would be fired, according to her account. Although an HR official admitted that this threat was illegal, no action was taken, she said.

On Monday, Kalanick said Uber board member Arianna Huffington, founder of Huffington Post, would also assist in the investigation alongside Liane Hornsey, the companys newly hired chief human resources officer, and Angela Padilla, general counsel.

The harassment controversy comes as Kalanick struggles to move past the viral #DeleteUber campaign, which stemmed from his participation on Donald Trumps economic advisory council.

The company has long refused to release demographic data on its workforce, even though most major tech companies have in recent years begun disclosing data and publicly acknowledging their lack of diversity. Apple, Facebook, Google and Twitter have all published staffing reports.

Kalanicks email only provided gender data, saying the 15% figure for women has not changed substantively in the last year. The email did not offer statistics on the number of women in senior roles, a key metric for diversity.

A spokeswoman declined to provide racial demographic data to the Guardian on Monday. The CEO said he and Hornsey would publish a broader diversity report in the coming months.

Fowler alleged that when she left Uber at the end of 2016, out of over 150 engineers in the site reliability engineering teams, only 3% were women.

This is not the first time a tech corporation has hired Holder in the wake of a discrimination scandal. In 2016, home-sharing startup Airbnb brought him in to investigate claims that users were refusing to rent their homes to black guests, a controversy that spread under the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack. The company subsequently implemented new staff and rules aimed at preventing discrimination, though some critics said the reforms were inadequate.

Image Credit: Uber (logo).

2017 Guardian Web syndicated under contract with NewsEdge/Acquire Media. All rights reserved.

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Uber Hires Eric Holder To Investigate Sexual Harassment Allegations - CIO Today

CEO Travis Kalanick sent a company-wide email on Monday, which addressed the allegations published the day before. He said Uber hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Tammy Albarran, both partners at law firm Covington & Burling, to probe the claims.

Uber sent a copy of the memo to CNNTech.

"[They] will conduct an independent review into the specific issues relating to the work place environment raised by Susan Fowler, as well as diversity and inclusion at Uber more broadly," Kalanick wrote. "Joining them will be Arianna Huffington, who sits on Uber's board, Liane Hornsey, our recently hired Chief Human Resources Officer, and Angela Padilla, our Associate General Counsel."

On Sunday, former engineer Susan Fowler published allegations of blatant and systemic sexism at the company. These include a supervisor propositioning her for sex, and the company's human resources department ignoring multiple complaints about inappropriate behavior.

Kalanick said he opened an "urgent" investigation into the matter after she posted her story.

The CEO also told employees he plans to publish a diversity report. Uber is one of the largest tech companies that has not released statistics about the diversity of its employees. Kalanick said women make up 15.1% of Uber's technology teams. (Google's (GOOGL, Tech30) tech workforce, for comparison, is 18% women.)

Fowler's story went viral in the last 24 hours, renewing calls to boycott the ride-hailing company. The allegations of sexism follow a wave of controversy surrounding Kalanick's association with President Donald Trump. Earlier this month, Kalanick resigned from Trump's business advisory council following a #deleteuber campaign.

Though Fowler's allegations shocked many people, they serve as a reminder that the culture at tech companies is often sexist. Just last week, a former Magic Leap vice president filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against the company. And according to a 2016 study, three out of five women who work in Silicon Valley say they have experienced unwanted sexual advances.

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Uber hires Eric Holder to investigate sexism allegations ...

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick sent a memo to his employees today, announcing a series of moves to quell the growing outrage over serious allegations of sexism and sexual harassment at the car-hailing company.

In it, he said he hired outside counsel, led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, to investigate the charges by a former female engineer and also the wider cultural problems across Uber. It was already announced that board member Arianna Huffington and HR head Liane Hornsey will also be part of the investigation. Also added to the team: Associate general counsel Angela Padilla.

Huffington and Hornsey will also be conducting one-on-one listening sessions with staff after an all-hands meeting tomorrow.

Said Kalanick: I believe in creating a workplace where a deep sense of justice underpins everything we do. Every Uber employee should be proud of the culture we have and what we will build together over time. What is driving me through all this is a determination that we take whats happened as an opportunity to heal wounds of the past and set a new standard for justice in the workplace. It is my number one priority that we come through this a better organization, where we live our values and fight for and support those who experience injustice.

That justice line might ring false to some and definitely too little too late for many, since the company has had a series of missteps a kind way of putting it related to women. That includes tasteless ads, rude remarks from Kalanick, bizarre threats aimed at a female reporter by a top exec and, perhaps most importantly, allegations that Uber has not taken the safety of women passengers seriously enough.

In addition, the company got in deep trouble recently around the immigration ban, from the way it reacted to a recent taxi strike to Kalanicks service on President Donald J. Trumps business advisory board, from which he recently resigned. The result was a massive online protest under the #deleteUber hashtag, which resulted in more than 200,000 account deletions.

Kalanick also said he would release diversity numbers, which he had declined to do in the past. He revealed that 15.1 percent of its technical staff were women, although he did not provide more specifics, compared to 17 percent of Facebook employees and 18 percent at Google. But lower numbers he cited for Twitter were inaccurate.

There will be more information to come, he promised.

Here is Kalanicks memo in full:

Team,

Its been a tough 24 hours. I know the company is hurting, and understand everyone has been waiting for more information on where things stand and what actions we are going to take.

First, Eric Holder, former US Attorney General under President Obama, and Tammy Albarran -- both partners at the leading law firm Covington & Burling-- will conduct an independent review into the specific issues relating to the work place environment raised by Susan Fowler, as well as diversity and inclusion at Uber more broadly. Joining them will be Arianna Huffington, who sits on Ubers board, Liane Hornsey, our recently hired Chief Human Resources Officer, and Angela Padilla, our Associate General Counsel. I expect them to conduct this review in short order.

Second, Arianna is flying out to join me and Liane at our all hands meeting tomorrow to discuss whats happened and next steps. Arianna and Liane will also be doing smaller group and one-on-one listening sessions to get your feedback directly.

Third, there have been many questions about the gender diversity of Ubers technology teams. If you look across our engineering, product management, and scientist roles, 15.1% of employees are women and this has not changed substantively in the last year. As points of reference, Facebook is at 17%, Google at 18% and Twitter is at 10%. Liane and I will be working to publish a broader diversity report for the company in the coming months.

I believe in creating a workplace where a deep sense of justice underpins everything we do. Every Uber employee should be proud of the culture we have and what we will build together over time. What is driving me through all this is a determination that we take whats happened as an opportunity to heal wounds of the past and set a new standard for justice in the workplace. It is my number one priority that we come through this a better organization, where we live our values and fight for and support those who experience injustice.

Thanks,

Travis

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has hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder

Uber said on Monday that it is tapping former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to help conduct an investigation into sexual harassment claims made by a former employee.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced the move in a letter sent around to company employees which was seen by ABC News.

In his note to employees, Kalanick said he hired Eric Holder, Attorney General under President Barack Obama, and Tammy Albarran -- who are both partners at the Washington D.C.-based law firm Covington & Burling -- to "conduct an independent review" of Fowler's claims.

"I believe in creating a workplace where a deep sense of justice underpins everything we do," Kalanick said in the memo. "What is driving me through all this is a determination that we take what's happened as an opportunity to heal wounds of the past and set a new standard for justice in the workplace."

The company plans to hold an "all hands" meeting on Tuesday to "discuss what's happened and next steps," Kalanick's note said.

Fowler, who currently works for the online payments provider Stripe, wrote in her Sunday blog post that a manager of hers when she worked at Uber had sexually harassed her over online chats. She wrote that after she took screenshots of the conversation and sent them on to HR, no action was taken.

"Upper management told me that he 'was a high performer' (i.e. had stellar performance reviews from his superiors) and they wouldn't feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake on his part," Fowler wrote.

Kalanick on Sunday called the descriptions in Fowler's post "abhorrent," saying that the actions described have no place at Uber.

"It's the first time this has come to my attention so I have instructed Liane Hornsey our new Chief Human Resources Officer to conduct an urgent investigation into these allegations," he added. "We seek to make Uber a just workplace for everyone and there can be absolutely no place for this kind of behavior at Uber -- and anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is OK will be fired."

Kalanick also posted his reactions to Twitter on Sunday, embedding a link to Fowler's blog post.

Uber board member and Thrive Global CEO Arianna Huffington also promised a "full investigation" on Sunday and asked people to email her directly about the allegations.

According to Monday's memo, Huffington, along with the company's human resources chief, will attend the "all hands" meeting on Tuesday and will conduct "group and one-on-one listening sessions" to get feedback from employees.

ABC News could not independently verify the details of Fowler's story.

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Uber taps Eric Holder to probe harassment claims - KGO-TV

Uber has hired the former US attorney general Eric Holder to investigate allegations of sexual harassment after an engineer went public with claims that she repeatedly faced sexism and discrimination at the ride-sharing company.

In a staff email shared with the Guardian on Monday, Ubers CEO, Travis Kalanick, said Holder would conduct an independent review and also revealed that women made up only 15% of the companys workforce in engineering, product management and scientist roles.

The hiring of Holder, who was attorney general under Barack Obama, comes as the description of harassment from Susan Fowler, a former site reliability engineer, has gone viral, prompting women across Silicon Valley to share stories of facing misconduct and discrimination in the male-dominated tech industry.

Its been a tough 24 hours. I know the company is hurting, Kalanick said in his email. It is my number one priority that we come through this a better organization where we live our values and fight for and support those who experience injustice.

Fowlers lengthy account on her blog alleged that management and the HR department at the San Francisco-based company frequently dismissed documented cases of sexual harassment, protected a repeat offender and threatened to fire her for raising concerns.

Fowler, who declined to comment further on Monday, alleged in her post that a manager immediately propositioned her for sex when she joined in late 2015, and that a director explained the dwindling number of women in her organization by saying the women of Uber just needed to step up and be better engineers.

Fowler, who now works for technology company Stripe, said a manager harassed her with messages on the company chat system but did not face any consequences from HR despite her providing screenshots. She said she later learned that other women had complained about his inappropriate behavior.

Upper management told me that he was a high performer -- and they wouldnt feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake, she wrote.

In one anecdote, she said managers had promised staff leather jackets but ultimately decided not to order them for women because there were not enough women in the organization to justify placing an order.

Following her complaint about that incident, an HR representative asked if I had ever considered that I might be the problem, she said. Her manager also later told her she was on thin ice and that if she filed another report, she would be fired, according to her account. Although an HR official admitted that this threat was illegal, no action was taken, she said.

On Monday, Kalanick said Uber board member Arianna Huffington, founder of Huffington Post, would also assist in the investigation alongside Liane Hornsey, the companys newly hired chief human resources officer, and Angela Padilla, general counsel.

The harassment controversy comes as Kalanick struggles to move past the viral #DeleteUber campaign, which stemmed from his participation on Donald Trumps economic advisory council.

The company has long refused to release demographic data on its workforce, even though most major tech companies have in recent years begun disclosing data and publicly acknowledging their lack of diversity. Apple, Facebook, Google and Twitter have all published staffing reports.

Kalanicks email only provided gender data, saying the 15% figure for women has not changed substantively in the last year. The email did not offer statistics on the number of women in senior roles, a key metric for diversity.

A spokeswoman declined to provide racial demographic data to the Guardian on Monday. The CEO said he and Hornsey would publish a broader diversity report in the coming months.

Fowler alleged that when she left Uber at the end of 2016, out of over 150 engineers in the site reliability engineering teams, only 3% were women.

This is not the first time a tech corporation has hired Holder in the wake of a discrimination scandal. In 2016, home-sharing startup Airbnb brought him in to investigate claims that users were refusing to rent their homes to black guests, a controversy that spread under the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack. The company subsequently implemented new staff and rules aimed at preventing discrimination, though some critics said the reforms were inadequate.

Image Credit: Uber (logo).

2017 Guardian Web under contract with NewsEdge/Acquire Media. All rights reserved.

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Uber Hires Eric Holder To Investigate Sexual Harassment Allegations - Sci-Tech Today