Pinterest pays $22.5million to settle gender discrimination lawsuit by French executive who said she was paid less than men, left out of decisions and fired for speaking out
- Francoise Brougher accused Pinterest of overseeing a hostile work environment
- She filed the lawsuit earlier this year after being fired as chief operating officer
- Pinterest will pay her $20m and invest $2.5m to promote women and minorities
Francoise Brougher, pictured, brought the gender discrimination lawsuit against Pinterest after being fired as an executive
Pinterest has agreed to pay a former executive $20million to settle a lawsuit after she accused the company of gender discrimination.
Francoise Brougher accused the popular bulletin-board website of paying her less than her male colleagues, leaving her out of decision-making, subjecting her to a hostile work environment and firing her after she spoke out against her treatment.
The French-born Brougher filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco-based firm after she was removed as Pinterest’s chief operating officer earlier this year.
Pinterest’s agreement with Brougher will see the company pay her $20million and invest another $2.5million to help increase the presence of women and under-represented groups in the tech industry, taking the total size of the settlement to $22.5million.
Brougher said after the lawsuit was settled that she would ‘continue to advocate for workplace equity’, including more women in top corporate positions.
In an agreed statement, Pinterest said it ‘recognizes the importance of fostering a workplace environment that is diverse, equitable and inclusive and will continue its actions to improve its culture’.
Brougher said she ‘welcomes the meaningful steps Pinterest has taken to improve its workplace environment and is encouraged that Pinterest is committed to building a culture that allows all employees to feel included and supported.’
When the suit was filed in August, Brougher said that female executives were ‘marginalized, excluded and silenced’ at the ‘highest levels’ of the firm.
‘Although 70 percent of Pinterest´s users are women, the company is steered by men with little input from female executives,’ she said at the time.
Pinterest’s agreement with Brougher will see the company pay $20million to its former chief operating officer and invest $2.5million to help increase the presence of women and under-represented groups in the tech industry, taking the total size of the settlement to $22.5million
Brougher claimed she was fired for not being ‘collaborative’, saying she was given feedback in performance reviews that would not have been given to men.
‘If I were a man, I would have been considered bold and thoughtful. As a woman, I was “misusing my energy and work ethic”,’ she wrote.
‘I believe that I was fired for speaking out about the rampant discrimination, hostile work environment, and misogyny that permeates Pinterest,’ she said.
More than 440million people around the world use Pinterest each month, according to the website.
‘Women were the first to embrace us; they still make up more than 60 per cent of our platform globally – and we’re proud of it,’ Pinterest said earlier this year.
Pinterest, launched in 2010, allows users to decorate their virtual bulletin boards with pictures showcasing interests including food, fashion, travel and lifestyle.
It also enables users to link to online shopping and other services to track down items they have ‘pinned.’
Before joining Pinterest, Brougher worked for Google and financial services firm Square. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a masters in engineering from a French university.