There were 238 complaints of gender discrimination or sexual harassment filed by U.S.-based female employees in technical roles at Microsoft from 2010 to 2016, according to new court documents made public this week.
The numbers were revealed as part of a 2015 lawsuit filed by employees alleging that they, and their female coworkers, were rising through the company’s ranks more slowly because of employee review processes that favored their male counterparts.
Microsoft said that only one of 118 gender discrimination complaints was “founded,” according to the court filings, first reported by Reuters.
“Diversity and inclusion are critically important to Microsoft,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “We want employees to speak up if they have concerns and we strive to make it easy for them to do so. We take all employee concerns seriously and have a fair and robust system in place to investigate employee concerns and take appropriate action when necessary.”
The plaintiff’s attorneys want to move the case forward as a class action lawsuit — that would cover more than 8,000 women — but the U.S. district judge has yet to schedule a trial.
The legal battle comes during a time of heightened scrutiny on gender and harassment issues in the workplace across the technology industry.
