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Isabella Vincenza , one of CloudKitchens ’ earliest employee , never envisage she would be litigate her now - former employer .
Hired as a full - time sales rep in 2018 , she became a pillar at President ’s Club dinners hosted by CEO Travis Kalanick at his Bel Air home throughout 2020 and 2021 . These dinners were prized , ask for - only events for top salespeople at CloudKitchens , a company that cater delivery - only commercial-grade kitchen known as “ ghostwriter kitchen . ”
The gatherings started with cocktail by the pool . Then the partygoers would unify indoors until they sit down for a chef - prepared dinner . Vincenza hark back Kalanick would recognise her with a clinch and praise her body of work . Sometimes , he would ask in her to sit near him during dinner party and they would chat throughout the repast .
“ If you were the good sales rep , you were his favorite person because you were make water the companionship a mess of money , ” Vincenza told TechCrunch , adding that she was also CloudKitchens ’ first female salesperson .
In August 2022 , she get in at one President ’s Club dinner visibly pregnant . When she tried to sit across from Kalanick at the dinner party , she echo him ask her to move over . She say he scarcely see at her , would not engross in conversation , and did n’t say adieu . Vincenza left the dinner unsettled .
“ That was the beginning of me being a outcast , ” Vincenza told TechCrunch .
She and another describe a “boys’ club”
Vincenza was fired in July 2023 , a second over six month after returning from maternity leave , according to her case and the society .
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After obtain a right hand - to - sue letter from California ’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in August 2024 , shefiled the suit of clothes in Los Angeles Superior Court . In it she name Kalanick and two other executives , CloudKitchens ’ parent companionship City Storage Systems , and its associate company CSS Payroll as defendants . The wooing alleges wrongful termination , sex favoritism , and a uncongenial piece of work environment , among other claims . TechCrunch has incur a copy .
Vincenza claims in her suit that she spent years “ dodging all of her employer ’s sexist curveballs , ” that the “ office culture was that of a boys ’ club , ” and alleges she receive less earnings and a smaller fairness subsidization than her male vis-a-vis . She also claims she was “ retaliated against for stand up for herself ” keep an eye on her pregnancy and subsequent maternity leave .
The party disdain her allegations . “ Isabella Vincenza had one of the highest earnings amongst hundreds of account executives , yet in the last year of her tenure at the company she was one of the low-pitched performers , ” company spokesperson Devon Spurgeon tell TechCrunch . Spurgeon added that an “ internal society review ” found Vincenza ’s claims of secernment “ to have no merit and the irony of all of this is that the fictitious and fraudulent allegations were against the hoi polloi who were her biggest booster . ” Spurgeon also denied that the seat system for the President ’s Club dinner party were influenced by Vincenza ’s pregnancy , and said seating room was a reflection of the seniority of hoi polloi in attendance .
Vincenza ’s case echo some of the allegation that chair Kalanick to step down as CEO of Uber in 2017 after Susan Fowler ’s viralblog postsparked an investigation into that work ’s cultivation . The probe revealed a civilisation so rampant with gender favouritism and workplace harassmentthat Uber fired more than 20 people later that twelvemonth . While Kalanick himself was n’t personally accused of intimate discrimination or molestation , in short after the report and inflammation , Kalanick resigned .
In 2018 , he buy a controlling interest in City Storage Systems , owner of CloudKitchens , became CSS ’s chief operating officer , and brought some demode - Uber employees along with him . By 2021 , some employees felt CloudKitchens’workplace was Uber all over again , with long hr and a boys’-club mentality ; with one executive , the headland of recruiting , resigning after an intragroup misconduct investigation , according to reports in Business Insider that yr .
TechCrunch has viewed Slack substance from 2022 , unrelated to Vincenza ’s case , in which employees were inveigle for not being at work after 7 p.m. ; male employees were openly message about another manlike employee having sex ; and CloudKitchens cobalt - founder Barak Diskin used a dating visibility - style shirtless photo of himself for his Slack profile photograph .
Female employeeshave suedCloudKitchens before . One woman sued alleging unjust labor drill like being squeeze to mold overtime without pay , and being denied repast breaks . Another sued claiming grammatical gender and race - based pay favoritism ( Kalanick was also to begin with distinguish in this suit of clothes but was after drop as a defendant ) . The first character was moved to individual arbitration ; the second was reconcile in 2023 .
These women are not the only ones who base CloudKitchens ’ acculturation hard . One former employee who work in the Los Angeles government agency told TechCrunch that mass were frequently fired and employee put to work to the boundary of burnout , sometimes appease in the post until 2 a.m. This employee , whose identity is live to TechCrunch , asked to stay on anon. for fear of retaliation .
This employee also used the words “ boy ’ club ” to discover CloudKitchens ’ culture . Slack messages viewed by TechCrunch render employees using the N - word in a public group . At one full stop , someone hang a photoshopped picture of Donald Trump on the bulwark , show him as a muscled , bare - chested bagger standing in a annulus , perfect with boxing gloves and a title belt , according to a photo realise by TechCrunch .
While Vincenza did not comment on those incident , she did tell TechCrunch : “ It was always a bro culture . ”
Spurgeon denies the characterization of a boys ’ clubhouse or bro culture , point out that women hold fourth-year positions at the company , include the pass of HR , legal , and the enterprise sales event team . She also said that the company has “ no evidence ” of Slack messages containing the N - word and that its insurance is to “ quickly ” address and dispatch any inappropriate messages or photos brought to direction ’s attention .
Fired after going to HR
Vincenza ’s cause claims that in 2020 , when Vincenza was a top sale performer , Jessica Morton — CloudKitchens ’ head of business evolution and partnership , and one of the other defendant in this suit — accidentally break on a soar call that two of Vincenza ’s virile teammates were being paid more than $ 20,000 more than Vincenza was . afterwards , Vincenza received a $ 5,000 pay increase . ( Morton did not respond to TechCrunch ’s requests for comment . )
In addition to the dinners during the years before her gestation leave , Vincenza remembers routinely being praised at all - hands encounter where the top salespeople were named .
“ It was a big pile , ” Vincenza say . “ You were a loss leader . You were an illustration . And I was present that way to the rest of the ship’s company . ‘ Isabella is number one . ’ ”
In January 2022 , Vincenza informed her manager , as well as Kalanick , that she was fraught and plan on take maternalism leave of absence . Vincenza claims in the suit that her managing director “ insinuate ” she could lose her job if she take in leave , and reportedly asked how she was going to work while pregnant . While the fellowship has a pregnancy leave policy , Vincenza enunciate the company scramble to finalize details of how hers would be handled .
“ Two days before I went on maternity leave , they could n’t forecast it out , ” she allege .
When she yield to work in January 2023 after her three - and - a - half month provide , the courtship say Vincenza found that her tumid account had been transfer . The voice articulate that her accounts were assign to others in her absence but denies that the changes were punitive .
“ allow me prove that I ’m still number one , ” Vincenza remember telling herself after returning to work . For instance , salesperson were give a finish of closing at least one larger 5- to 10 - kitchen quite a little — meaning bless a client that would rent multiple kitchen . One one-quarter , she enunciate she was the only salesperson to land a 10 - kitchen deal but received no public congratulations , nor an invite to the President ’s Club , her suit say . Spurgeon says of the 10 - kitchen mass that it never in reality close up . “ Nothing was actually ratify . No funds were receive by the ship’s company . ”
Vincenza ’s suit also alleges that Kalanick tease her once when she called home to check on her four - calendar month - old during the day , and that leadership would call her or schedule confluence in the evening and early mornings when they knew she was unavailable , which are also allegation the company deny .
Vincenza aver she went to HR in other 2023 to discuss her overall treatment since returning from maternity leave of absence and was terminated short after .
“ She was not given any reprimands . She was not given a performance plan to review . The termination comes out of the blue , ” Vincenza ’s lawyer , Patrick Downes , a partner at Manteau Downes LLP , told TechCrunch . “ This is really unheard of for a troupe of any size in California . ”
The representative denies this title as well , saying Vincenza ’s manager did have ongoing discussion about her performance .
As for why Vincenza decided to sue , given how difficult such lawsuits are to follow , she state , “ I do n’t need other the great unwashed to be handle that way at this company . ” Then she add up : “ I do n’t desire this company to be that elbow room for other mum , other cleaning lady . ”
