- by theverge
- 30 Oct 2024
When Cindy Warner joined Amazon Web Services in February 2020, she saw it as an opportunity to increase diversity and reshape the companyâs strategy. She recalls how AWS âaggressivelyâ recruited her, offering a quick path to higher-level roles and better pay.
But just over a year after she joined, the promising job had become a nightmare.
Warner, a tech executive with 30 years of experience, said she had faced pay discrimination and an underlying culture of sexism and homophobia. She sued the cloud computing company in May 2021 - alleging that male executives at AWS treated her with âopen contempt, insults, and hostilityâ and upheld a âwhite boysâ clubâ - and claims she was fired shortly after.
âI truly would not want my worst enemy to work at Amazon,â she told the Guardian, describing the workplace as âtoxicâ and alleging she was targeted for her work mentoring women and efforts to increase diversity and inclusion.
Her lawsuit is one of several Amazon is currently facing over allegations of workplace discrimination, and it underscores the challenges women face from the bottom to the top of the tech industry.
âThis shows at Amazon, it does not matter if you have a lot of power on paper - the culture is going to impact you regardless of whether you are a high-powered executive or a lowly software engineer,â said Veena Dubal, a labor law professor at the University of California, Hastings. âAt the end of the day, you are not really protected.â
An Amazon spokesperson, Jaci Anderson, said the company disputed Warnerâs account and that it had conducted a thorough investigation and âfound her allegations to be unsubstantiatedâ. (Warner has criticized the integrity of the AWS investigation.)
A Delta Air Lines flight bound for New York City from Las Vegas made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff on October 29, 2024, due to fumes in the cockpit. Flight DL2133, originating from Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas and destined for LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York, reported an issue within minutes of departure, leading the crew to declare an emergency and return to the Las Vegas airport for a safe landing.
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