CEO Travis Kalanick May Be Forced To Temporarily Step Away As Uber Deals With Public Scandals

Uber¡¯s board of directors met this Sunday to discuss the company¡¯s immediate future. In light of the recent string of scandals rocking the corporation, one of the items on the agenda was to discuss a possible leave of absence for the company¡¯s CEO Travis Kalanick

Images courtesy: Reuters

According to insider information obtained by Reuters, the board discussed Kalanick temporarily stepping away from daily operations for a time, possibly even returning to office in a different role with fewer responsibilities and stronger oversight.

Uber has been going through an incredibly rough patch lately, after a string of incidents brought the company a lot of bad press. On Tuesday June 6, the company terminated more than 20 employees as part of investigations led by an outside firm. The reasons cited included accusations of sexual harassment, office bullying and general unprofessional behaviour.

1/ Today we updated employees re: Perkins Coie investigation. 20 terminated. 31 in training. 7 final warnings. 57 still under review.

¡ª Uber Comms (@Uber_Comms) June 6, 2017

The investigation itself was the result of a blog post by Susan Fowler in February of this year, an ex-Uber engineer who alleged that the company paid no heed even after she repeatedly complained of sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

A day later, on Wednesday, news emerged that Uber¡¯s president of business for Asia-Pacific, Eric Alexander, obtained the medical records of an Uber customer who was raped by her driver in India in 2014. According to reports, Alexander showed the woman¡¯s medical records to Kalanick, senior VP Emil Michael, as well as other executives, as they were sceptical of the victim¡¯s story, believing it to be a corporate sabotage operation carried out by rival Ola.

Later that day, international media reported that Uber had developed an algorithm-based system in 2015, to figure out the lowest possible payment and stock options they could offer to potential new hires. Kalanick himself supposedly approved the system, in order to protect existing shareholders from having their stocks diluted. Consequently, this led to a major pay discrepancy between employees holding the same positions in the company, as well as raising question around whether female employees in particular were being paid less than their male counterparts.

Though it¡¯s not yet clear whether Kalanick will be taking a forced leave of absence, or whether he will serve in a different role in future, Uber is looking to adopt a number of internal policy and management changes recommended by the investigators. The company is looking to rebuild trust with the public, especially after Kalanick has managed to develop for himself an image as an abrasive, unsympathetic leader, like when he was recorded berating an Uber driver who questioned him on steadily dropping income from their fares.

Uber is expected to reveal its final decisions to employees and the public, regarding both Kalanick and the company at large, tomorrow.