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Man says he was let go after reporting sexual harassment

On Behalf of | Aug 18, 2017 | Firm News, Sexual Harassment |

A former senior operations manager for Social Finance Inc. has filed a lawsuit against the company. He said he reported seeing female colleagues harassed by their managers. In addition, he says he saw managers who would cancel loans that had mistakes in order to retain high bonuses.

A spokesman for he company, which refinances student loans, says there is no merit to the employee’s claims. This lawsuit is just one of many high-profile cases that allege sexual harassment and other unethical behavior in Silicon Valley. The landslide of allegations started after a former engineering employee at Uber alleged that she was subjected to sexual harassment.

The Social Finance Inc. former employee said that he witnessed a male manager subject female employees to “explicit sexual innuendo and statements into normal workplace communications.” He emailed human resources, but was told that there was no merit to his complaints and that his duties did not include reporting such complaints to management.

The lawsuit also alleges that loan applications were often mishandled in order for managers to enhance their bonuses. Applications were allegedly canceled if there was an internal error instead of bringing up the issues. If the errors had been reported, performance bonuses would have been decreased.

Employees do not have to put up with sexual harassment, whether it is from another employee or a supervisor. There should be procedures in place to report such actions. If you have been the victim of such harassment and your employer has not done anything about your complaint, you have a right to legal action against the company, supervisors and the employee who perpetrated the harassment.

Source: Bloomberg, “SoFi Employee Says He Was Fired for Reporting Sexual Harassment,” Selina Wang and Julie Verhage, Aug. 14, 2017