Uber agrees $1.9m payment to settle sexual harassment claims

Ride hailing company will also pay the workers an additional $11,000 each, on average, as part of a class action brought by 485 people who say they were discriminated against

The legal settlement is the latest in a line of complaints related to workplace culture at the startup (AP)

Uber has agreed to pay 56 current and former employees a total $1.9m (£1.5m) to settle sexual harassment claims.

The ride hailing company will also pay the workers an additional $11,000 each, on average, as part of a class action brought by 485 people who say they were discriminated against during their time at Uber.

The payouts are part of a $10m settlement agreed in March. A final hearing to approve the settlement is due to be held in California on 6 November.

Two Latina engineers who led the class action allege they were paid less than white, Asian and male colleagues. The pair say they were subject to harassment and a hostile work environment at Uber because of their ethnicity and gender.

A spokesperson said: "We agree with the plaintiff's motion which states that 'the class has responded extremely favourably to the settlement' with amounts that are 'fair, reasonable, and adequate."

The payouts were calculated based on factors including the severity and duration of the alleged misconduct, the existence of supporting evidence, impact on the victim and the alleged perpetrator’s job title.

However, settling the case will not draw a line under the long running problems Uber has faced over its workplace culture.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) began investigating the firm in August 2017 over separate gender discrimination allegations.

Former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick stepped down in June 2017 after allegations of widespread sexual harassment and gender discrimination at the company he founded.

His resignation came after a review related to revelations about the toxic culture at Uber’s Silicon Valley office, made in a 3,000-word blog post by Susan Fowler, a former engineer at the company.

In the furore that followed, two external investigations uncovered hundreds of complaints about sexual harassment and other workplace practices, resulting in dozens of employees being fired.