SAN FRANCISCO- Three engineers have this week filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court in San Francisco which sees Uber accused of discriminating against the engineers based on their gender and race.
According to Reuters, The lawsuit, filed at the Superior Court in San Francisco by Ingrid Avendano, Roxana del Toro Lopez and Ana Medina who claim that compensation and other practices at the ride-sharing firm discriminate against women and people of colour.
The lawsuit filed by the trio claims that women, Latino, American Indian and African American employees receive lower performance scores compared to men, white and Asian employees. These lower performance scores make it harder for those employees to advance through the ranks at Uber.
Reuters reports that the lawsuit also alleges that women, lose out on pay raises, bonuses, stock options and other benefits because of Uber’s discriminatory practices. “In this system, female employees and employees of color are systematically undervalued compared to their male and white or Asian American peers,” the lawsuit says.
Avendano and Toro Lopez brought their complaints to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency this summer, an administrative step that precedes a public lawsuit. News site The Information reported on the complaint Tuesday. “These three engineers are seeking to ensure that Uber pays women and people of color equally for the hard work they’ve done – and will continue to do – to help make Uber successful,” said lawyer Jahan Sagafi of Outten & Golden which is representing the plaintiffs.
In August, Uber made a series of changes to address pay equity, including increasing pay of employees who were paid below the median salary for their job and providing an annual 2.5 percent raise. Uber spokesman Matthew Wing declined to comment.