Ex-employees of Twitter in Indiana could potentially choose to join a new class-action lawsuit started by a woman who worked at Twitter as a software engineer. In her court filings, she accused the company of removing women from the promotion process by not making its job postings visible to all employees. She asked women employed by Twitter within the past three years to join the lawsuit if they had been overlooked for promotions.
She alleged that upper management at Twitter, which is heavily male, had secret meetings about who would get promotions. She also alleged that no job postings were made and that employee reviews were not apparently involved in the decisions. The employment figures provided by large technology companies, including Twitter, show that white men make up an average of 70 percent of their workforces.
Responding to the lawsuit, a representative from Twitter said the woman resigned from her job voluntarily after being urged to stay. The company maintained that she had been treated fairly.
Laws are in place to prevent workplace discrimination based on a person’s identity, such as gender, race, religion or disability. In situations when gender discrimination may be happening, someone suing their company might try to seek compensation for lost income as well as damage to their career potential. They might also seek possible reinstatement to a position lost through retaliation. Consultation with an attorney might allow an individual to assess whether the evidence available points to discrimination. If a lawsuit goes forward, the attorney could possibly negotiate a settlement with the company. If that does not succeed, the attorney could support the person during a court case.
Source: CNET, “Twitter faces gender bias lawsuit,” Rochelle Garner, March 22, 2015
