Francoise Brougher, former chief operating officer, Pinterest, has filed a case alleging her former employer of gender bias. She claims she was terminated when she approached the HR with a complaint against the sexist remarks made by the Company’s chief financial officer. She alleges that not only were her complaints of gendered feedback ignored, but the Company chose to protect the CFO by covering up her unfair termination. As a result, she claims to have lost immensely in terms of earnings.
Brougher has also accused the American image sharing and social-media service company of paying her less than her male counterparts. The inequality in pay structure was discovered when the Company decided to go public last year. However, when Brougher raised her voice, she only drew criticism for being non-compliant and non-collaborative. Despite being in the second most important position after the CEO, Brougher was not involved in major decision-making and was also kept out of important meetings even while other members of her team were included.
Brougher has earlier worked with Google as VP and with Square as the global business lead.
In June, two Black women, who were part of the Company’s public policy team, made similar allegations against Pinterest. They complained that they were terminated for protesting against gender and racial bias.
At the time, the Company had sought external help with investigation, and the CEO had admitted that the Company’s culture needed to be improved.
