Ellen Paon V. Kleiner Perkins: Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Summary
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Ellen Pao v. Kleiner Perkins : Gender discrimination Lawsuit
Introduction:
In 2012 Ellen Pao filed a lawsuit, suing her old employer; the influential venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, in a gender discrimination case that succeeded in prompting a debate about the position of women in Technology & Venture capital industry. Ellen claimed that Kleiner refused to promote her to a senior position because she was a female employee and they unjustly terminated her when she raised a complain about the discrimination. The case went to trial in February 2015. On March 27, 2015 the jury ruled in favor of Kleiner Perkins on all counts.
Thoughts:
While analyzing the course of events and considering the discriminatory actions I would definitely agree that…show more content… This is due to the fact that this is an intentional discrimination by an employer who has purposefully treated an employee or applicant less favorably because of her gender.
Employees or applicants making claims of disparate treatment must prove their employers’ intent to discriminate with either direct or indirect evidence.
In case of indirect evidence the plaintiff must prove that she was qualified for the job. If the plaintiff builds a successful prima facie case, the defendant must “articulate some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the employee’s rejection” (for example, greater work experience). However, the defendant need not prove that its decision not to hire the plaintiff was, in fact, based on that legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason. The defendant simply must raise a legitimate issue of fact disputing the plaintiff’s discrimination claim.
Assuming the defendant was successful in presenting a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its action, the plaintiff must show that the reason offered by the defendant was false and thus was merely a pretext to hide