Uber executive resigns following probe into racial discrimination

[axaxs]

This isn't surprising. Every company I've worked for, HR seemed out to protect the company only and try to quiet/bury complaints. It's a well known mantra not to ever talk to HR, sad as it's become...

[lhorie]

The timeline in the article says that allegations were made against her about racial discrimination, and then she left the company (with all parties declining to comment). Isn't this sort of the opposite situation from your run-of-the-mill evil/apathetic HR dept stories where the victims get the short end of the stick?

[jiveturkey]

> HR seemed out to protect the company

well, that is their job ...

> This isn't surprising.

Not sure how those two statements go together. HR's job is to protect the company from HR-related issues, like claims of discrimination. When the head of HR is herself embroiled in a discrimination inquiry, it shouldn't be a surprise that she is asked to leave.

[philpem]

"Milkshake Duck is a valued and respected member of the organisation and has been here many years..."

[tmh79]

Disclaimer: I work at U

Liane was beloved at Uber. I cannot speak to any issues of racial discrimination, but I definitely felt that Lianne was one of the "good" folks at the company, and I am very surprised and dissapointed by this news.

[dm3730]

> I definitely felt that Lianne was one of the "good" folks at the company, and I am very surprised and dissapointed by this news.

People were saying the same thing about Bill Cosby, that he was one of the "good guys" right up until light was shed on his behavior with a specific subset of human beings.

I know great engineers who treat me really well but at the same time are horrible human beings who treat specific subgroups of people in an unacceptable way.

This process of helping such people identify that they have a problem, that they are behaving in an unacceptable way and then fixing it is a good thing.

[esturk]

Are you a person of color? Because the issue was about racial discrimination. I don't doubt she may treat non color folks great but you may not be hearing the whole story.

[kevintb]

If you weren’t among those discriminated against, you don’t speak for everyone.

[rrix2]

There are those of us who are happy with the new leadership in general who were not fans of her. That's not a conversation I'm having on a public forum, though.

[jhowell]

Seems that she disagrees with you.

[randyrand]

It doesn’t sound like this is about racial discrimination.

It sounds like it’s more about her saying things about diversity that others didnt like.

Not really the same thing IMO.

[dm3730]

> It sounds like it’s more about her saying things about diversity that others didnt like.

Where in the article does that "sounds like" come from?

[amaccuish]

> It doesn’t sound like this is about racial discrimination.

Hmm, I didn't get that from the linked article. Care to substantiate?

[tert45ty54wy]

The article doesn't say Hornsey criticized the idea of diversity.

It says she is alleged to have used discriminatory language, and made derogatory comments to a coworker.

So very much about discrimination.

[danso]

This HR exec started in January 2017, and Susan Fowler’s bombshell blog post was Feb. 2017. It sounded like the culture had a signficant turnaround not just because of the public scrutiny, but Khosrowshahi‘s new leadership. The HR Director can’t claim to have been caught off-guard by the internal culture changes.

[rrix2]

people had forgotten that Liane was hired by Travis, before the shit hit the fan, I guess.[1]

[1]: http://www.businessinsider.com/ex-google-softbank-liane-horn...

[segmondy]

I believe the catalyst for this was Bozoma Saint John leaving. Once I saw her announce her departure on twitter, I thought to myself, "WTF happened? Isn't this too soon? She just joined" Her ton of having to take a break and travel the world also hinted it wasn't mutual or a happy situation. I won't be surprised that reports started probing, asking questions and Uber had to clean up before they ended up heavily on the news again.

[danmaz74]

I'm curious about what do they mean when they talk about dismissing complaints. They mean that the complaints weren't investigated at all, or that action wasn't taken after an investigation?

[supreme_sublime]

It is interesting, it seems like the default position is "Every complaint is legitimate". There are no specifics given so we're left to speculate and land wherever our own bias tends to lean.

[jonny_eh]

What were the complaints?

[tert45ty54wy]

From the article:

"They alleged Hornsey had used discriminatory language and made derogatory comments about Uber Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion Bernard Coleman, and had denigrated and threatened former Uber executive Bozoma Saint John, who left the company in June."

"Some of the allegations were substantiated, investigators from law firm Gibson Dunn told the employees in a May 15 email that was seen by Reuters."

[esturk]

The article implies it has to do with the racial discrimination at people of color.

[sidcool]

There definitely is scope of further resignations on sexual harassment charges as well.

[drb91]

What makes you say that?