Employment Law Commentary - Volume 29, Issue 9

Workplace Bias And Gender Pay Equity In Silicon Valley 2017

It was only a couple of years ago, on March 27, 2015, that a jury rejected Ellen Pao's gender discrimination claims and rendered a defense verdict in favor of her former employer, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm. The Ellen Pao case, and the media attention it received, helped place concerns about bias and gender pay equity in the spotlight in Silicon Valley. Now issues of bias and pay equity in the workplace are again taking center stage in Silicon Valley, with almost daily media reports about Silicon Valley's gender problem and a continuing list of companies and notable Silicon Valley figures being taken to task with allegations of inappropriate conduct towards women, including but not limited to Binary Capital co-founder Justin Caldbeck and 500 Startups founder Dave McClure. Also high-profile lawsuits recently have been filed, including against UploadVR with allegations of a sex room in the