Uber fired its Asia-Pacific business head Eric Alexander over his possession and sharing of the medical records of a woman who had been raped while using the company’s taxi service in India in 2014, Recode reported on Wednesday. Alexander is believed to have shown the medical records to Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick and Senior Vice President Emil Michael.
Following the case, the Uber driver was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment, while the ride-hailing service was banned in the capital till June 2015. While the company was publicly apologetic about the incident, its top management reportedly suspected it to be a sabotage by its rival firm, Ola, Recode reported.
The development follows reports that the firm had fired more than 20 employees following a company investigation into sexual harassment and other allegations. Uber had hired law firm Perkins Coie to look into complaints of harassment, discrimination, and bullying, after a former employee alleged sexual harassment and sexism at the company in a blogpost in February 2017. The woman, who had worked for Uber between November 2015 and December 2016, had further alleged that the company’s human resources department did not act on her accusations.
Uber has been embroiled in several controversies lately. It faces a lawsuit from Google’s owner Alphabet over allegedly stealing trade secrets from them related to self-driving cars, and seperately, a video showing its Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick involved in an argument with an Uber driver, for which he had faced sharp criticism. The company’s Senior Vice President of Engineering Amit Singhal had resigned in February 2017 for failing to inform them a sexual harassment allegation made against him while he had worked at Google.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!