Yahoo has become the latest tech giant to face claims of gender discrimination with a number of companies in Silicon Valley accused of gender discrimination in the last year.
Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft have all been sued for discrimination against female employees. However, a lawsuit against Yahoo has accused the company of discriminating against a male employee.
Filed 1 February in US district court, Yahoo is accused of “actual and intentional gender-based discrimination” against male employees by Gregory Anderson, a former Yahoo employee who worked as an editorial director for the website for four years until his firing in November 2014.
Despite having a mainly male staff, with the company having a workplace that was 62% male, with 76% of leadership roles filled by men, Yahoo faces a lawsuit as a result of female management at Yahoo who “intentionally hired and promoted women because of their gender, while terminating, demoting or laying off male employees because of their gender”.
The industry itself is seen to be hugely split with a 70-30 male employment rate making the legal action even more shocking according to some experts.
The complaint also singles out a former chief marketing officer for discriminating against men in the company’s media division, where Mr Anderson was employed. According to the complaint, the percentage of female managers in Yahoo’s media division increased from 20% to more than 80% and “females with the same Employee Score as male employees were treated better than their male counterparts”.
Some experts have stated that this legal action could have a dramatic effect on companies promoting women or minorities and could lead to more claims of “reverse discrimination.”
In a response to the legal action Yahoo’s said: “As noted in our Diversity Report, fairness is a guiding principle of our annual review and reward process. Our performance review process was developed to allow employees at all levels of the company to receive meaningful, regular, and actionable feedback from others. We believe this process allows our team to develop and do their best work.”
When taking legal action can be exceptionally daunting and complex against an employer or former employer, it is important that you have as much evidence as possible to support your claim. It is natural that employers will not want to admit to discriminating against employees. Therefore strong evidence can make all the difference. Any email conversations, correspondence or any other evidence that supports your claim should be provided to our team of expert solicitors to build the strongest possible case.
While there are a number of incentives for employers in place to try and reduce the amount of gender discrimination, if you have been overlooked for a promotion, paid less than a colleague who does a similar job or have been mistreated in the workplace as a result of your gender, you could be entitled to take legal action.
If you believe you have the right to take legal action against an employer, contact our team of expert employment solicitors today using our online contact form.
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