Summary: Another gender discrimination lawsuit has been filed against Yahoo alleging discrimination against male employees.
A twist in gender discrimination allegations is hitting Yahoo Inc. A man is claiming that he was discriminated against by Yahoo for being a male. The Yahoo Inc. media executive was fired from the internet company last year but claims it was because of a review process that Chief Executive Marissa Mayer implemented.
Scott Ard was the former senior editorial director. He claims that the process was used to eliminate men from the executive ranks by laying them off illegally. His lawsuit filed in California’s Northern District Court in San Jose says the company violated federal civil rights and employment regulations.
Yahoo spokeswoman Carolyn Clark stated the lawsuit has no merit and that the review process is “fair.” Unfortunately, this is the second lawsuit against Yahoo accusing them of discriminating against men. Former Yahoo Autos Managing Editor Gregory Anderson accused the company of gender discrimination and violations also related to the review process.
Read Lawsuit: Ex-Yahoo Employee Challenges Performance Review System.
Ard joined Yahoo five years ago and argues that his performance reviews had been overall positive with stock awards before Mayer changed things. Her introduction of a quarterly performance review system gave him an unsatisfactory ranking. The lawsuit contends “Yahoo’s QPR Process permitted manipulation without oversight or accountability and was thus more arbitrary and discriminatory than the stack ranking used for a while by other employees.”
Mayer is one of the highest-profile female executives in Silicon Valley. After failing to turn the company around, she is in the process of divesting Yahoo’s core assets.
See Yahoo May Attempt to Avoid Large Tax Bill.
The grounds of the lawsuit rely on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and U.S. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification regulations. He states that since 2012, Yahoo has fired over 50 employees within a 30-day period numerous times. The company had 9,400 employees in March.
Ard also points out that former Chief Marketing Office Kathy Savitt hired 16 senior level editorial employees, 14 of which were women. He claims she “intentionally hired and promoted women because of their gender.”
Do you think companies may give women more opportunities in an effort to make sure they are not discriminating against them only to be discriminating against men? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more about Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, read CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, Has Lateness Issues.
Photo: newyorker.com