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12 Jun, 2017 10:01

No easy ride for Uber as company votes to adopt changes from company review

No easy ride for Uber as company votes to adopt changes from company review

Uber is set to make a number of changes as its board of directors voted unanimously to implement recommendations from a report triggered by allegations of sexual harassment and other employee concerns.

The changes will be announced to the ride-sharing company’s employees on Tuesday when details of an inquiry carried out by former US Attorney General Eric Holder will be revealed.

The company has said that all recommendations from Holder’s investigation are to be implemented.

“The Uber Board met today with Eric Holder and Tammy Albarrán. The Board unanimously voted to adopt all the recommendations of the Holder Report,” Uber said in a statement, TechCrunch reported.

On Sunday, the board of directors met at the Los Angeles offices of Covington & Burling, Holder’s law firm, where they were reported to have debated the changes for seven hours.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Chief Business Officer Emil Michael plans to resign as early as Monday, as fallout from the report.

Sources told Recode, however, that the WSJ’s report was inaccurate, saying instead that Michael was under pressure to resign by Uber, rather than being fired.

Michael was involved in an incident in which an executive he managed obtained the medical records of a woman in India raped by an Uber driver.

Recode reported the incident, claiming the records were obtained as Uber was concerned the woman’s claim was part of a smear campaign engineered by rival ride-sharing company Ola.

The records were reportedly seen by both Michael and Chief Executive Travis Kalanick, who is reportedly being considered by the company to step away from his post temporarily as a result of the latest inquiry.

Last week, the company fired 20 employees for hostility towards women after reviewing complaints, including 215 sexual harassment claims.

READ MORE: Uber fires at least 20 employees amid 215 sexual harassment claims

A blog post by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, published in February, brought attention to the controversial culture allegedly rampant at the company.

“When I joined Uber, the organization I was part of was over 25% women. By the time I was trying to transfer to another organization, this number had dropped down to less than 6%,” she wrote. “Women were transferring out of the organization, and those who couldn’t transfer were quitting or preparing to quit.”

Fowler said sexism within the organization and “organizational chaos” were to blame.

Following news of Sunday’s meeting, Bloomberg reported that Wan Ling Martello, executive vice president at Nestle SA and director of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, will be appointed to the company’s board.

Uber have yet to return RT's request for comment. 

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