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Eric Holder to help investigate Uber sexual harassment allegations

By Andrew V. Pestano
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, seen here addressing delegates during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 26, will help lead an sexual harassment investigation into Uber alongside Huffington Post founder and Uber board member Ariana Huffington and Liane Hornsey, Uber's new human resources chief. File Photo by Ray Stubblebine/UPI
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, seen here addressing delegates during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 26, will help lead an sexual harassment investigation into Uber alongside Huffington Post founder and Uber board member Ariana Huffington and Liane Hornsey, Uber's new human resources chief. File Photo by Ray Stubblebine/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Uber hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to help lead an investigation into sexual harassment and discrimination recently alleged by a former employee.

In a memo to employees, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said the review will be conducted in "short order" and that it will involve Holder, Huffington Post founder and Uber board member Ariana Huffington, and Liane Hornsey, Uber's new human resources chief.

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A blog post by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler prompted the investigation. She said she was sexually harassed by a supervisor almost immediately after she started at the company, and said her complaints were ignored by human resources. Over the course of a year Fowler said she was threatened and sabotaged by management because she complained about the harassment.

On Sunday, Kalanick tweeted, hours after Fowler's blog post spread online, that he was launching an "urgent investigation" into allegations she made that she was denied transfers and job opportunities because of sexism among managers.

Kalanick told employees in the memo the review conducted by Holder, Huffington and Hornsey will investigate both Fowler's claims and "diversity and inclusion at Uber more broadly."

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"What is driving me through all this is a determination that we take what's happened as an opportunity to heal wounds of the past and set a new standard for justice in the workplace," Kalanick wrote.

Holder was former President Barack Obama's U.S. Attorney General from 2009 until 2015, when he was succeeded by Loretta Lynch.

Other women at the company have experienced the same harassment, Fowler wrote in her post, which she says is why the number of women working at the company dwindled during her 12 months there.

Within a few weeks of training, Fowler alleged her boss propositioned her in a messaging application, telling her he was in an open marriage and looking for a new partner. When Fowler told human resources, bringing them screenshots of the conversation, she said she was told nothing could be done about it, and that it was possible she'd have to deal with some type of backlash for having reported him.

Fowler later attempted to transfer to a different department -- based on her performance reviews, she should have been eligible -- but her managers changed her reviews so she could not transfer, because they were trying to keep women on their teams, she said.

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Stephen Feller contributed to this report.

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