Uber In More Hot Water Over Sexual Harassment, Exec Forced To Step Down

Uber was already grappling with one incident of sexual harassment in the workplace when a former employee who is also a prominent programmer revealed damaging information about her experience at the cab hailing firm. Now, a company executive is forced to step down because of a similar case during his time at Google resurfacing.

According to a report by Recode, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick kicked SVP of Engineering, Amit Singhal, to the curb on Monday morning. This was after the discovery that there was credible information pertaining to allegations of sexual harassment by Singhal when he was still working at Google after the company conducted internal investigations.

It would seem that the harassment issue had less to do with the executive’s forced resignation than his failure to disclose the matter when he was brought on board by Uber. With gender inequality being a sensitive matter within the tech industry at the moment, it’s clear that the cab hailing company simply can’t tolerate being embroiled in another scandal.

For his part, Singhal is denying having committed any such act of sexual harassment in an email to the publication. He admitted that there was a disagreement between him and his former employers, however.

“Harassment is unacceptable in any setting. I certainly want everyone to know that I do not condone and have not committed such behavior,” the email reads. “In my 20-year career, I’ve never been accused of anything like this before and the decision to leave Google was my own.”

His departure from Uber marks a rather short tenure for the now-former SVP since Singhal became a part of the cab company only this January, CNET reports. At the time, the computer engineer expressed nothing but fondness for the renegade firm, describing it as a “geek's candy store” in a recent blog post.