Three female software engineers filed a lawsuit against Uber in San Francisco on Tuesday, claiming the company discriminates against women and ethnic minorities.
Ingrid Avendano, Roxana del Toro Lopez and Ana Medina, who filed the lawsuit, all claim they have lost earnings, benefits and promotions because of their gender and race.
The lawsuit states Uber used a employee ranking system that is "not based on valid and reliable performance measures", and favours white, male employees, as well as those of [East] Asian origin. It further claims that women, Latino, Native American, and black employees, are given lower performance scores on this system, which makes it more difficult for these groups to grow and advance professionally.
The lawsuit also claims that women and ethnic minorities lose out on pay rises, bonuses, stock options and other benefits because of the company's discriminatory practices.
"These three engineers are seeking to ensure that Uber pays women and people of color equally for the hard work they've done and will continue to do to help make Uber successful," said lawyer Jahan Sagafi of Outten & Golden which is representing the plaintiffs, as reported by Reuters.
While Medina is still employed at Uber, Avendano and Toro Lopez recently resigned after more than two years with the company.
This lawsuit is another in a long line of problems Uber has been facing with the treatment of its employees, including former Uber engineer Susan Fowler's allegations of systemic sexism at the company, which she detailed in a blog post.
Uber has declined to comment on the lawsuit.
