Kleiner's Ellen Pao doesn't quit despite the lawsuit
Weeks after launching a gender discrimination lawsuit against venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, Ellen Pao says she has no plans of quitting as junior partner.
After weeks of dodging the press about the gender discrimination lawsuit she filed against her employer, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Ellen Pao says she doesn't plan on quitting the venture capital firm.
This news doesn't come by the way of the press, however. Instead, Pao quietly made the announcement on the Web site Quora, according to TechCrunch, which first reported this news.
Yesterday, a Quora user posted the question, "Did Ellen Pao quit KPCB after the lawsuit?" and under her own account name Pao replied "No, and I don't plan to quit."
According to TechCrunch, Pao has been posting comments under this Quora account since 2010 and it was definitely her that posted the comment yesterday. However, Pao still won't talk to the press.
Junior partner Pao filed the lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins in the Superior Court of California on May 10. The complaint alleges that Pao endured five years of retaliation for rebuffing sexual advances from senior partners and that the company discriminated against her and other female employees when it came to promotions and pay.
Last week, Kleiner's senior partner John Doerr issued a statement refuting claims of gender discrimination. "We hired an expert, independent investigator to conduct a thorough inquiry," Doerr said in his statement. "The investigator's report concluded that the allegations are without merit and that our firm does not discriminate on the basis of gender."However, it seems that Quora users are backing Pao. Several comments say things like "Fight the good fight, Ellen!" and "You go girl." One comment is from venture capitalist Dave McClure who is the founding partner of 500 Startups, he wrote, "hang in there ellen :)."