Over the last few years, the media has reported many claims of gender and race discrimination against well-known companies. Uber, in particular, faced well-publicized claims of sexual harassment just last year. The allegations also exposed a company culture that was sexist and discriminatory. Now a different lawsuit against Uber was just settled for $10 million. The class-action lawsuit was brought by two women engineers who accused the company of gender and race discrimination.
Roxana del Toro Lopez and Ana Medina, who described themselves as Latina software engineers, alleged that Uber’s employee ranking system was “not based on valid and reliable performance measures” and favored men and white or Asian employees. As a result, they lost out on earnings, promotions and benefits. The $10 million settlement compensates for financial and emotional harm to about 285 women and 135 men of color. Importantly, Uber also agreed to reform its system for compensation, reviews and promotions and to provide regular reports to its workforce and to the court.
As made clear by numerous studies, gender and race discrimination continues to occur. Settlements like the one against Uber provide not only financial compensation, but a mandate for companies to change their employment practices. The plaintiffs and attorneys who bring these lawsuits are positively impacting the conditions faced by many more employees in the future.
Even though Uber already was dealing with bad press, discrimination cases are particularly risky especially as a class action. Not only is liability difficult to prove, but the settlement is subject to multiple levels of approval. Class actions often take many years to resolve even once a preliminary settlement has been reached. The huge delays in receiving a check can have a significant impact on law firms waiting for payment in order to pay their bills.
At RapidFunds, we often provide funding to law firms who handle class action lawsuits and are happy to support the good work of law firms who help end discriminatory practices. Congratulations to the attorneys.
To learn more about how post-settlement funding can help your firm, visit RapidFunds® Frequently Asked Questions page or contact Sherry Foley, Esq. at sfoley@rapidfunds.com for more information.