A former editorial director for Yahoo sued Yahoo’s CEO, Marisa Mayer, in federal court in San Jose, alleging gender discrimination occurred. He claims that Mayer led a campaign against male employees and tried to purge them from the company.
The plaintiff worked at Yahoo for over three years. He claims that when Mayer joined the company in 2012, she created a new employee performance rating system that benefited women and discriminated on the basis of gender. The plaintiff alleges that in 2014, he was replaced by a woman, who was hired by the female editor-in-chief of Yahoo news. He had received a great performance review earlier that year. He claims that since 2012, Yahoo has terminated over 50 employees within a thirty-day period on several occasions.
According to the lawsuit, when Mayer began at Yahoo, less than 20 percent of the managers reporting to her were female. Within a year and a half, over 80 percent of the top managers were female. Ms. Mayer publicly expressed support for increasing the number of women in media, and the lawsuit claims that she hired and promoted women because of their gender, while terminating or laying off male employees because of their gender. The lawsuit claims that the chief marketing officer hired 16 new senior level editorial employees, and 14 of those were women.
The lawsuit is not the only one filed against Yahoo for gender discrimination. Former Yahoo Autos managing editor Gregory Anderson filed a lawsuit in February of this year, alleging that he was the victim of gender discrimination. He says he had received permission to participate in a fellowship while he was with Yahoo, but was fired while he was away. He allegedly asked to see documentation of the performance review metrics that resulted in his termination, but was denied.
Yahoo denies the claims, stating that the present lawsuit is without merit. The company claims that Mayer has helped to improve the company’s quality and improved workers’ efficiency. The company claims that it has focused on hiring employees with a wide variety of backgrounds, and has helped low performers in the company to be transitioned out.
Although most lawsuits filed which allege gender discrimination are filed by women, men can be victims of gender discrimination as well. Any form of discrimination based on gender is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. Title VII covers all private employers, state and local governments, and educational institutions that employ 15 or more people.
Sex discrimination involves treating a job applicant or an employee unfavorably because of that person’s sex. Discrimination is illegal when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring and firing, pay and benefits, promotions, layoffs, and any other term or condition of employment. In addition, if an employer has a policy or practice that applies to everyone, but it has a negative impact on the employment of people of a certain sex, and is not necessary to the operation of the business, that policy could be considered discrimination.
If you believe you may have been the victim of illegal job discrimination, call the Oakland-San Francisco employment law attorneys at Liberty Law at 510-645-1000. At Liberty Law, Micha Star Liberty believes that no employer should be able to get away with discrimination based on sex. Call the dedicated attorneys at Liberty Law today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation on your case. We work with clients throughout the San Francisco Bay area. Call us today.
