Amazon Confronts Gender Discrimination Claims As Three Employees File Landmark Lawsuit

In a recent development, three employees of Amazon Inc. AMZN have sued the company, alleging gender discrimination and retaliation.

What Happened: Caroline Wilmuth, Katherine Schomer, and Erin Combs, who belong to Amazon’s corporate research and strategy division, have filed a lawsuit against the company. 

They claim that the e-commerce giant has been practicing gender bias by assigning women lower job titles than men in similar roles, along with higher pay. They also accused the company of regularly failing to promote women, reported CNBC.

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The trio first raised the issues in 2021, leading to an investigation into potential gender-based discrimination. 

Wilmuth alleged that the three women in her team of four researchers were categorized into lower-paid roles, while the only male member was placed in a higher-level and higher-paid role. 

The male researcher apparently made “approximately 150% of Schomer’s salary,” according to the complaint.

The employees also claim that Amazon retaliated “within weeks” of voicing their concerns by demoting them, significantly reducing their job scope, and reassigning their direct reports to a team managed by a male executive accused of gender bias.

Amazon’s decision to transfer Wilmuth’s reports to a team led by a male executive was found to have a “disparate impact” on women in a March investigation.

Meanwhile, Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser refuted the allegations, stating, “We believe these claims are false and will demonstrate that through the legal process,” the report noted. 

Why It Matters: Gender discrimination lawsuits in the tech industry have been recurring. 

In 2018, Uber Technologies, Inc. faced an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over alleged gender discrimination. 

In 2020, Pinterest’s former chief operating officer filed a lawsuit alleging sex-based mistreatment. 

In 2021, Apple Inc.’s senior engineering program manager alleged that she was placed on indefinite administrative leave after raising concerns about sexism in office. 

In the same year, the vice president of sales and marketing at Rivian Automotive Inc. accused the company of firing her “abruptly” after she complained about the “toxic bro culture” in the company. She also alleged that she faced gender discrimination from a senior executive at the company. 

These instances indicate a broader pattern of gender bias across the tech industry that needs to be addressed.

Photo by Sundry Photography on Shutterstock

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This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.