Uber’s HR Head Liane Hornsey Resigns Amid Racial Discrimination Allegation
Uber Technologies Inc's Chief People Officer was under investigation for dismissing internal racial-bias complaints before her resignation came.
The head of Uber Technologies Inc.'s human resources department Liane Hornsey resigned on Tuesday following an investigation into the way she handled an incident of racial discrimination allegation at the firm. Uber Technologies Inc's Chief People Officer was under investigation for dismissing internal racial-bias complaints before her resignation came.
According to Reuters, the resignations comes after they contacted Uber on Monday about the unreported investigation into accusations by anonymous whistleblowers. Hornsey is head of Uber's human resources department and among the firm's top spokespeople on diversity and discrimination issues. She has been in the company for 18 months.
The incident also raises questions on Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi's promise to change the culture at the firm after he took over in August last year following a series of scandals when Travis Kalanick was the CEO.
In an email, to employees, Khosrowshahi praised Hornsey describing her as "incredibly talented, creative, and hard-working". However, he gave no reason for her departure. In a separate email to her team at Uber, Hornsey said that her exit "comes a little out of the blue for some of you, but I have been thinking about this for a while." Neither did she mention the reason for her departure. Hornsey has also not responded to comment about the investigation.
The allegations against Hornsey and Uber's human resources department were made by an anonymous group who claims to be Uber employees of colour according to Reuters.
Members of the group told Reuters that Horsey used discriminatory language and made derogatory comments about Uber Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion Bernard Coleman. The report also states that she denigrated and threatened former Uber executive Bozoma Saint John, who left the company in June.
Uber has been embroiled in multiple controversies in the past including sexual harassment charges on its employees. The incident had come to light after a female software engineer sued the company last year. Later, Uber agreed to settle a class-action discrimination lawsuit by 420 female and minority employees for USD 10 million.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 11, 2018 02:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).