An American startup company is facing serious allegations from a former employee over sexually charged and harassing behaviour in the workplace. UploadVR, based in California, has come under fire after their former director of social media launched a lawsuit against them for the harassment she says she and other female employees suffered during their tenure with the company. Workplace harassment is hardly an American issue, as many Calgary residents have endured similar treatment in Canadian workplaces.
According to the lawsuit, the company's two male founders have strove to create an environment that catered to men in the company's two offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Company parties were allegedly rife with locker-room talk in which male employees and the co-founders would graphically discuss sexual topics, often related to female employees. Women in the workplace were singled out as only distracting male employees, who expressed inappropriate and unwanted sexual interest in them.
The harassment went hand in glove with discrimination, the suit goes on to clarify. The allegations state that women working for UploadVR were paid less for the same jobs as the male employees, and the director of social media says she was wrongfully terminated for complaining about this conduct. As of this report, UploadVR has denied these claims.
It is a sad reality that harassment and discrimination are still faced by Calgary employees of many walks of life. However, there is legal assistance available to victims. If a company is unwilling or unable to appropriately handle internal issues pertaining to harassment, the support of an experienced employment attorney can help to escalate the issue beyond the scope of reticent management.
Source: techcrunch.com, "UploadVR sued over "rampant" sexual behavior in the workplace and wrongful termination", Lucas Matney, May 15, 2017
On behalf of Ridout Barron posted in Employment Law on Wednesday, May 24, 2017.
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