This latest Uber management misstep may leave a mark, employment law experts said Monday.
Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick could be forced to push out a top lieutenant over the latest sexual harassment claim to have come to light against the ride-hailing app, the experts said.
The lieutenant, Senior Vice President Emil Michael, allegedly tried to cover up a trip he, Kalanick and four other employees made in 2014 to a South Korean escort-karaoke ” bar.
If Kalanick is serious about Uber going public, he may have to jettison Michael, the experts said.
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The 2014 night out was at a bar where miniskirt-clad women sat in a circle, identified by numbered tags ” and may have been taken home by some of the top execs, the CEO’s ex-gal pal, Gabi Holzwarth, told The Information in a report published Friday.
A female Uber employee at the bar later complained to Uber human resources, saying the evening made her uneasy.
Holzwarth said she got text messages from Michael a few weeks ago, saying, Remember that night in Korea? . . . We just went to a karaoke bar and that’s all that happened, right?
While the company has been rumored to be planning a 2017 initial public offering, two tech sources told The Post they no longer expect one this year.
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Uber recently hired former US Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct an internal investigation into any systemic problems of sexual harassment after a female engineer accused the company of systemic sexual harassment problems that left men unpunished.
The company isn’t charged with any wrongdoing. Prostitution is common, though illegal, in South Korea.
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Michael who previously raised a fracas for suggesting that the company conduct opposition research on a critical female journalist said his email to Holzwarth was simply to warn her that she might get some calls from the media.
If it was found out that he tried to obstruct Holder’s investigation, there could be greater consequences for him, Muller said.
The fact that someone may have been asked to withhold material information calls into question the commitment to ending harassment and discrimination, “David Lopez, partner at Outten & Golden, and former general counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, told The Post.