Uber agrees to settle discrimination lawsuit for $10M

Uber has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the ride-hailing startup of discriminating against female and minority employees.

The lawsuit, representing 420 female engineers, said Uber's compensation practices discriminate against women and people of color, resulting in lost earnings, promotions and benefits. As part of its settlement, Uber has agreed to change how it manages compensation and promotion.

"This settlement involves claims dating back to July 2013 and, while we are continually improving as a company, we have proactively made a lot of changes since then," Uber said in a statement. "In the past year alone we have implemented a new salary and equity structure based on the market, overhauled our performance review process, published our first Diversity & Inclusion report and created and delivered diversity and leadership trainings to thousands of employees globally."

The lawsuit, filed in October by three Latina engineers, alleged that American Indian and African-American employees at Uber receive lower performance scores, hurting their chances of advancement, pay raises, bonuses and stock options.

The lawsuit was just one of a series of scandals during a tumultuous year for Uber that saw the forced resignation of CEO Travis Kalanick and the dismissal of more than 20 employees amid an investigation into sexual harassment allegations at the company.

The settlement comes a little more than a year after former Uber engineer Susan Fowler wrote a blog post about her experiences working at Uber, including sexual harassment, gender bias, and "a game-of-thrones political war raging within the ranks of upper management."

The settlement still requires approval of the court.

Uber didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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