Electric truck startup Rivian was sued by a former vice president of gender discrimination and retaliation just days before the automaker’s upcoming $ 53 billion IPO.
Laura Schwab, in a middle position, claimed she’s been exposed to a “Toxic Bro Culture” since becoming Vice President of Sales and Marketing for five years as president of Aston Martin’s North American operations last November.
Schwab said she was often banned from meetings with her supervisor, Chief Growth Officer Jiten Behl, who appeared to be more responsive to input from her male colleagues.
“While my male colleagues were sitting in the meeting room without me, I couldn’t even arrange one-on-one meetings with my boss, the Chief Growth Officer. He told me that he would only communicate with me via instant messenger and that outside of office hours. ‘late at night,’ “she said.
Schwab said she asked another senior executive to bring her to the meetings, but was told that she had also been expelled from them. In October, Schwab reported the problem to her HR business partner, who allegedly said Behl had not spoken to her either.
| ticker | safety | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM, INC. | 3,518.99 | +41.99 | +1.21% |
Two days later, Schwab was called to talk to Behl and the HR business partner and learned that she was being “fired” as part of a major reorganization. However, Schwab claims that she was the only person laid off and that the layoff cost her millions in uninvested equity.
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Rivian, supported by Amazon, told FOX Business: “Because of our mandatory rest period, we can’t comment on it.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Schwabs’ legal representative Rudy, Exelrod, Zieff & Lowe LLP recently settled a similar lawsuit against Pinterest for $ 22.5 million.
