Uber Fires 20 Over Internal Investigation

This week ride-sharing giant Uber announced it has fired 20 employees following allegations of harassment, discrimination, and inappropriate behavior. The firings, which stem from an internal investigation into Uber’s workplace conducted with help from Perkins Coie lawyers, reportedly include some senior executives. “You only terminate 20 people after you’ve determined after an investigation that there is something very, very wrong at the company,” Deborah Weinstein, president of the legal employment and workplace issues group at the Weinstein Firm, told the New York Times. “Most places don’t have this level of things going wrong.” Uber has been a lightning rod because of the erratic, aggressive, and at times outrageous behavior of its chief executive, Travis Kalanick. In February, a former Uber engineer wrote on her personal blog that she was sexually harassed by her supervisor and that the human resources department ignored her claims. That allegation, followed by other employees’ reports of systemic issues within the company, led Uber to launch the investigation. The company also hired former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder Jr. and his firm, Covington & Burling, to conduct an independent investigation into the claims.