Venture Capitalist Firm Fires Woman Suing for Gender Discrimination

Ellen Pao is still waiting to see whether her gender discrimination case against venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins will get taken to trial. In the meantime, she says she’s been fired.

“I have been terminated from my job at KPCB.,” she wrote on Q&A site Quora. “On Monday afternoon, senior management told me to clean out my office, leave, and not come back.”

Kleiner Perkins spokeswoman told AllThingsD that Pao wasn’t terminated but is, instead, “transitioning” for reasons that have nothing to do with her highly publicized sexual harassment allegations. Of course not. Here’s the statement:

Ms. Pao’s Quora post is misleading. She remains an employee of the firm. Because of long standing issues having no relationship or bearing on the litigation, Kleiner approached Ms. Pao to facilitate her transition, over an extended period of time, out of the firm. The proposed terms, that did not require Ms. Pao to waive any legal rights or claims, are generous, fair and intended to support Ms. Pao in a successful career transition.