Uber reported to the state that I was fired for “annoying a coworker.”
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anon-ex-uber
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With Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently announcing that he expects employees to work on weekends, I thought I’d share my own experience working at Uber to shed more light on the company’s culture, and specifically, how it treats the employees it expects so much from.
For context, I was a software engineer at Uber.
My story starts with a coworker who was consistently disrespectful towards me, making comments in front of other teammates implying that I wasn’t well read, among other things. I was uncomfortable with the situation, so I relayed these issues to both my manager and HR.
After an investigation, HR concluded that I had violated Uber’s No Sexual Harassment Policy, citing that I had sent “messages to a peer that made them uncomfortable.” The few messages I sent were regarding her behavior making me uncomfortable and were matter-of-fact with no sexual undertones whatsoever. When I asked HR to elaborate on their decision and cite the offending messages, they refused. I was in disbelief.
As part of my “first strike,” HR placed me on a final warning and instructed me to only communicate about work topics with my coworker… or else.
A few weeks later, the same coworker approached me about non-work topics. Since I was on a final warning, I went back to HR for guidance on how to handle it. HR verbally advised me that I could let her know I wasn’t comfortable discussing non-work topics for the time being.
The next day, she approached me again in a non-work context. So I did exactly what HR told me to do: I let her know via Slack that I’d like to keep communication to just work topics for now.
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As a result, the investigation was reopened, and a few days later, I was fired via Zoom and promptly locked out of my work laptop.
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Termination Certificate
Notably, my termination certificate makes no mention of sexual harassment, only “disruptive and inappropriate communication” and a violation of Uber’s Workplace Standards of Conduct.
Since severance wasn’t on the table, I applied for unemployment. Uber reported to the state that I was discharged for actions which “annoyed a coworker” and so I was initially denied my unemployment benefits.
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Unemployment Benefits (Initially) Denied
I appealed, provided my testimony to a judge, and was granted my benefits, because obviously, “annoying a coworker” is not willful misconduct.
I looked into further legal action, but Uber Legal made it clear that there was no path forward, and I had little luck with securing legal counsel.
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Uber Legal Email
I’ve sat on this story for months. I went back and forth on whether writing about it would do more harm than good, and ultimately I decided to share it because I think it illustrates something most employees don’t think about until it’s too late: HR exists to protect the company, not you.
I was fired for following HR’s own verbal instructions. The guidance that led directly to my termination was never put in writing. And when it was all over, the best characterization Uber could come up with for my behavior was that I “annoyed a coworker.”