A former employee has accused WeWork and Ex-CEO Adam Neumann for the discrimination against pregnant women. Medina Bardhi said that she as publicly and private demoted, demeaned, and then fired due to her pregnancy. This is one of the latest complaints that has emerged regarding the culture in the company under the leadership of Neumann.
Medin Bardhi serves as the Chief of Staff, and she alleged that all the female employees in the company were subject to sexually offensive conduct. She did not get maternity leaves and also get less pay than male employees. It was all mentioned in the complaint filed to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission by Bardhi on Thursday. During her five years of work at WeWork, Bardhi has two Children. She also claimed that Neumann referred to the maternity leaves as vacation and retirement.
During the time of her pregnancy, she was demoted and replaced by men who got higher wages. She did not get any details or instructions for the new work.
According to the complaint, at the time of her pregnancy, she was demoted in the company, and her value and role in the company were reduced drastically. Male employees were promoted for her position and replaced her.
WeWork is already facing a number of lawsuits regarding pay, gender, and age discrimination of women employees, which includes a former employee of the company. Once the company had a net worth of $47 billion, and after that, they are on a downfall. There were reports about the behavior of Neumann and the questions regarding the actual worth of the company. The company was already on the edge of running out of money until it was saved by Softbank when they get $9.5 billion bailouts.
Peter Beaumont is a senior reporter on the Guardian’s Global Development desk. He has reported extensively from conflict zones including Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East and is the author of The Secret Life of War: Journeys Through Modern Conflict. Email: peter@thehearus.com
