Best of Luck to Uber as It Tries to Fix Shitty Company Culture With $4.4 Million to Gender Discrimination Victims

Uber agreed to pay $4.4 million to compensate victims of sexual harassment and retaliation after an extensive investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency announced Wednesday. It applies to people who were harassed or experienced retaliation after Jan. 1, 2014.

Furthermore, the company will “create a system” to identify repeat harassers and managers who fail to address harassment complaints in a timely fashion. Company policies will be updated to prevent discrimination, but the “how” was not elaborated upon. Any woman who worked at Uber between Jan. 1, 2014 and June 30, 2019 will be getting a notice about how to determine eligibility to join the class.

This agreement ends a investigation started in 2017 to probe Uber’s workplace practices. “The EEOC found reasonable cause to believe that Uber permitted a culture of sexual harassment and retaliation against individuals who complained about such harassment,” the agency’s release said.

Uber is pleased with the outcome — which feels like the only thing you can say in press release about your agreement with a government agency. “We’ve worked hard to ensure that all employees can thrive at Uber by putting fairness and accountability at the heart of who we are and what we do. I am extremely pleased that we were able to work jointly with the EEOC in continuing to strengthen these efforts,” Uber’s Chief Legal Officer Tony West said in a statement.

This is the second time this month Uber has been in the headlines for poor management of sexual misconduct. On Dec. 6, the ride-sharing company released a study revealing it had received 3,045 reports of sexual assault during 2018. One of the ways Uber is responding to its internal study is working with RAINN to set up a reporting hotline that will debut some time in 2020.

If you’re looking to jump ship to another ride sharing company: 19 women filed a lawsuit against Lyft over sexual assaults by drivers in early December.