Former WeWork employees sue a company for sexual harassment



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According to the complaint, Ruby Anaya, who worked for the company for nearly four years as Product Manager and Director of Culture, first reported the incidents to the company's Human Resources department.

"In both cases, the company did not interview any witnesses other than the employee in question.In both cases, the employee claimed to be too drunk to remember the incident. ", we read in the complaint.

The lawsuit alleges that the second incident occurred at the company's annual summit in January when a male employee grabbed her and pulled her against her body and then shot her. tried to kiss him forcibly. The situation was reportedly reported to the chief executive officer of the company and to the co-founder and chief cultural officer, Miguel McKelvey, who was his direct supervisor and who is also named in the suit. Still according to her, nothing has been done and Anaya was fired in August 2018 as part of what the complaint describes as an act of retaliation. Although she has never received a negative performance appraisal, she said, she was fired for "mediocre".

The company disputes the prosecution's claims that Anaya would have had a clean performance.

In a statement, WeWork denied the allegations: "These complaints against WeWork are unfounded and we will fight this lawsuit." WeWork is still committed to promoting an inclusive, supportive and secure workplace. on the employee's complaints, took appropriate action and that employee was dismissed solely because of her poor performance. "

The lawsuit is full of details about the company's culture, including an allegation that WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann pleaded [Anaya] with tequila during his interview with the company ".

Based in New York, WeWork, operating in more than 20 countries, offers differentiated pricing plans for coworking spaces that can reach more than $ 1,000 per month. Its selling point is "community" and the company, which has 6,000 employees, prides itself on helping to build the culture of entrepreneurs and businesses that use its facilities.

The lawsuit also alleges that another employee "surreptitiously photographed [Anaya] take a glass of wine with another colleague "for the purpose of painting her as a drinker at work.The company however has a policy of" free beer to pressure in all offices, "adds the suit.

CNN Business received an e-mail sent Friday afternoon by WeWork staff to McKelvey, former boss of Anaya named in the lawsuit: "Ruby frequently neglected missions, skipped meetings and did not Neither for his team nor for the company's media discussion about what happened, but the truth is that Ruby was not fulfilling her role as a WeWork employee. she was in charge of listening to the reactions and acting.Any suggestion that her dismissal would have been anything other than performance based is simply not true. "

Seth Rafkin, Anaya's lawyer, said in a statement sent to CNN Business via e-mail: "If our client has long been mediocre, why did WeWork never do it?" warned or put in place a performance plan, what HR professionals will tell you And why was the decision to transfer her taken after she complained again about sexual assault and how it was managed? "

"In particular, Mr. McKelvey's email to WeWork employees completely ignores the specific allegations about the assaults, the fact that our client complained, a surreptitious photo taken of our client, etc.," he said. .

Anaya claims punitive and economic damages, including a loss of compensation due to her dismissal before some of her actions are vested in the company, as well as damages for emotional distress and humiliation.

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