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The press on Silicon Valley firms and sexual harassment hasn’t been very good, lately. As one of the leading sexual harassment law firms in the San Francisco Bay Area, we not only keep a keen eye on this issue but we’re also called upon by the media to comment on ‘events in the news.’ To this end, our own Larry Organ was quoted in a recent WIRED article on sexual harassment in Silicon Valley:
” Larry Organ, a plaintiff’s employment lawyer whose client is suing Tesla for sexual harassment, scoffs at the notion that arbitration cases have the same impact as conventional lawsuits. “Name for me one case in arbitration that is a seven-figure settlement. No one knows! Even if there is, we don’t know about it,” he says. “The public shaming exists when you file a case in court.” (And, of course, on Medium and Twitter.) “
And the article, says in summary:
“The prevalence of sexual harassment has been an open secret in Silicon Valley for years, but in the past few weeks the critical mass of disclosures about people whose avatars routinely show up on your Twitter feed turned into a tipping point. The fight had moved from ineffectual HR departments and courtrooms to social media, where the verdicts are swift.
In other words, this time was different, in part because Silicon Valley was already in the midst of a PR nightmare stemming from allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. The outpouring of stories began just one day after Travis Kalanick, once among the most envied CEOs in tech, was ousted from Uber amid charges of unchecked sexual harassment at his $70 billion company. Bolstered by support for Susan Fowler, the former Uber engineer who took her allegations of harassment public, many of the women who recently came forward risked their careers by naming names. In the wake of the disclosures, both Dave McClure, of 500 Startups, and Justin Caldbeck, of Binary Capital, resigned.”
You can read the full article, here. And, of course, if you believe you may be facing sexual harassment anywhere in the Bay Area – from San Francisco and Oakland in the North to San Jose in the South – reach out to our law firm for a consultation. We’re among the leading sexual harassment lawyers in Oakland / San Francisco / San Jose, and we’re happy to provide a confidential, initial consultation.