Uber Fires More Than 20 Employees in Harassment Probe

By Eric Newcomer / Bloomberg

Uber Technologies Inc. told employees that more than 20 people have been fired after a company investigation into harassment claims, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Bobbie Wilson, an attorney at Perkins Coie, gave Uber’s more than 12,000 employees an assessment of the firm’s investigation on Tuesday, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing personnel matters. A separate probe commissioned by Uber that’s being led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has given its own recommendations to a subcommittee of Uber’s board of directors, the person said.

In a review of 215 human-resources claims, Perkins Coie took no action in 100 instances as it continues to investigate 57 others; meanwhile, 31 employees are in counseling or training, while seven received written warnings from the company, the person said. The issues deal with harassment, discrimination, retaliation and other HR matters. The company didn’t name the employees who were fired.

Uber commissioned a pair of investigations after a widely circulated blog post written by a former employee in February alleged sexual harassment and discrimination. Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick asked for the resignation of Amit Singhal, his new head of software engineering, after the company learned of a sexual harassment claim against him at his former employer, Google. Singhal, who left in late February, denied the allegation.