Robinhood Pushes Engineer’s ‘Poisonous’ Sexism Go well with to Arbitration

(Bloomberg) — Robinhood Markets Inc. is poised to reach pushing a feminine former engineer’s claims a couple of “poisonous tradition of gender bias” on the firm out of open court docket and into non-public arbitration.

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A San Francisco choose issued a tentative ruling requiring the ex-employee to arbitrate her claims of intercourse discrimination, harassment and retaliation after the brokerage argued that she gave up the precise to sue in a typical provision in her contract.

Ayse Naz Erkan claims that after she was hailed as a “superhero” for serving to rescue Robinhood from a meltdown throughout the “meme-stock” buying and selling frenzy of 2021, she was handed over for a promotion and punished for complaining that her division was male-dominated. In the end she was fired the day she returned from a visit to India, the place she went to take care of her dying mom, in response to her grievance.

She sued the corporate and her former supervisor in June, searching for unspecified financial damages and a court docket order barring additional discrimination at Robinhood.

Erkan’s legal professionals mentioned the misconduct she alleged on the firm “must be adjudicated within the full mild of day.” They argued she must be allowed to proceed in court docket beneath the federal “Ending Compelled Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021” that took impact three months earlier than she sued.

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The corporate countered that the federal statute was “wholly inapplicable” as a result of the dispute pre-dates the regulation and since the measure is aimed toward harassment involving “sexually inappropriate habits, not claims of harassment primarily based solely on gender.”

San Francisco Superior Court docket Decide Richard Ulmer sided in his tentative ruling with Robinhood with out detailing his reasoning on the general public docket. Erkan’s legal professionals might request a listening to Monday to contest the ruling.

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A pointy downturn in buying and selling exercise has triggered a sweeping overhaul to rein in bills at Menlo Park, California-based Robinhood, together with job cuts and workplace closures. The inventory has tumbled 44% this 12 months.

Erkan’s legal professionals and Robinhood didn’t reply to requests for remark.

The case is Erkan v. Robinhood Markets Inc, CGC22600149, California Superior Court docket (San Francisco).

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