Still reeling from claims that its leaders failed to respond to sexism and inappropriate behaviour in the office, Uber on Monday dismissed one of its senior executives after learning he had been accused of sexual harassment while working at Google.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick asked Amit Singhal, his vice president of engineering, to resign after learning about the Google incident, an Uber spokeswoman said. Singhal on Monday denied the allegations and said he left Google for other reasons.
The leadership shakeup comes at a time of crisis for Uber, as the $68 billion ride-hailing giant continues to face intense national scrutiny after a former engineer earlier this month alleged in a post on her website that the company protected a manager who propositioned her for sex.
In an emailed statement, Singhal acknowledged he had been accused of sexual harassment while at Google, but denied that was the reason he left the company in February of last year.
"Harassment is unacceptable in any setting," he wrote in a statement sent through a New York-based media relations company. "I certainly want everyone to know that I do not condone and have not committed such behaviour. In my 20-year career, I've never been accused of anything like this before and the decision to leave Google was my own."
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Before joining Uber just over a month ago, Singhal spent 15 years as Google's senior vice president of search. He is largely credited as one of the brains behind the company's search capabilities. He left Google in February 2016, saying in a public goodbye note that he wanted to focus on philanthropy and spend more time with his family.
"As I entered the fifteenth year of working at Google, I've been asking myself the question, 'what would you want to do for the next fifteen?'" he wrote. "The answer has overwhelmingly been: give back to others."
But tech blog Recode on Monday reported Singhal was in danger of being fired when he resigned from Google after a female employee accused him of sexual harassment.
Uber says Kalanick and the rest of the management team were never told about the sexual harassment investigation. Singhal did not disclose the incident, according to an Uber spokeswoman, and it didn't come up in interviews during the hiring process, though she said Uber has a rigorous vetting process for executives.
After learning of the prior sexual harassment allegation, Kalanick moved quickly to let Singhal go, the spokeswoman said.
It comes just over a week after former Uber engineer Susan Fowler Rigetti published a blog post claiming that when she and other women complained of a male manager's sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour, the human resources department defended the manager and Rigetti was forced to transfer teams and given a negative performance review. A scathing New York Times report followed, claiming Uber managers had groped and threatened employees.
Kalanick was quick to decry the behaviour described by Rigetti as "abhorrent," and tapped former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate Rigetti's claims and the company's broader workplace environment. But Uber has faced a massive backlash on social media and in blog posts, including a plea from early investors at the Kapor Center for Social Impact to re-evaluate its culture.
"Uber's response to this particular crisis will be defining for the company, so the stakes are high to get it right," founders Freada and Mitch Kapor wrote. "Current, past and prospective employees will be watching, as will drivers and entrepreneurs and countless others, including these investors."
MCT
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