A significant gender discrimination lawsuit brought by the former COO against her former employer, Pintrerest, at the end of last year may have hiring and diversity ramifications far beyond the doors of the Silicon Valley organization. Francoise Brougher claimed that she had been subject to sexist and discriminatory practices during her two-year stint at the company. Since Brougher filed, several additional accusations from workers at Pinterest allege a culture of sexism and racism as well as the company using retaliatory measures against those who spoke out.
This summer, after these allegations surfaced, workers at Pinterest walked out in protest, forcing the company to take the accusations seriously. As part of the settlement, Brougher and Pinterest will give $2.5 million to organizations whose missions include fighting sexism and racism in tech. This is in addition to the more than $20 million Brougher was awarded in the settlement.
Observers believe this settlement is significant because Pinterest chose to settle, rather than litigate against Brougher. Also significant is her willingness to forgo the all-too-common NDA, a preferred Silicon Valley tool to keep settlements confidential.
According to Human Resource Executive, which spoke with several tech observers, this has the potential to shake up the C-suite mentality of it being a boys club where decisions are made out of sight. This could force tech companies and their HR departments to take seriously the deeply-rooted problems within tech culture.
