Startup sued by former VP over sexual harassment claims

California employees may be interested in the story of one woman who is taking her former employer to court over allegations of sexual harassment. The woman joins others in her industry who have recently alleged similar treatment at the hands of their employers.

On June 30, a former employee of dating app Tinder filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles court, alleging that she was a victim of sex discrimination and sexual harassment by one of the company’s executives. This is just the latest in a string of similar accusations levied against companies in the tech industry recently. GitHub investigated claims of harassment but did not discover any. The CEO of Snapchat was under fire due to uncovered emails disparaging women, sent while he was in college.

The Tinder employee, a former vice president of marketing, claims in her suit that the company’s head of marketing called her demeaning names in front of the company’s CEO. He also allegedly removed her co-founder status because he believed that the company would be seen as a joke with a young female in the position. Additionally, she alleges that the marketing chief sent inappropriate private emails to her. When she complained about the treatment she was receiving, she says that she was fired. The woman claims that she attempted to settle her differences with the company privately, but was forced to file the lawsuit when this was unsuccessful.

In situations where a supervisor is making unwanted sexual advances or creating an otherwise hostile work environment, an employment law attorney may be able to help. The attorney may be able to assess the situation and determine whether a lawsuit or other action is appropriate.

Source: USA Today, “Dating app Tinder sued for sexual harassment“, Jessica Guynn, June 30, 2014