Okta, a San Francisco-based tech company known best for building identification software applyd by businesses, was sued in May over accusations of widespread gfinisher discrimination.
Hiu Ho, who worked full-time at Okta from March 2020 until she was laid off in November 2023, filed the civil lawsuit on May 13, in San Francisco’s Superior Court. In the complaint, Ho alleged that she and other female employees experienced “distrust and bias” at Okta, which is worth around $14 billion, and that when she complained about gfinisher discrimination her performance reviews tanked and she was eventually laid off.
Ho’s complaint detailed a variety of allegations, spanning from companywide issues to individual problems with her supervisors. The complaint declared women at Okta experienced “severe bias and inequity,” adding that employee satisfaction surveys revealed “substantially different” responses for men and women. According to the complaint, female co-workers, frustrated by a seeming lack of respect, complained about her male boss and some even quit without new jobs.
“Like other women, Ms. Ho was encouraged to speak up and was notified this is a ‘safe place to inform all,’ but it was a huge trap,” the lawsuit declared. “Once she found courage to speak, she was retaliated against.”
The complaint described actions by her boss that could be described as overcontrolling and biased, stateing he bullied her with fabricated accusations and sabotaged her work. The complaint also declared male managers and colleagues “repeatedly” reshiftd her from emails and meetings. After she was laid off, Ho learned that she and two other female employees who had spoken up about discrimination were the only ones laid off from the team she’d been on, the complaint declared.
Stephen Ilg, Ho’s lawyer, notified SFGATE in a statement that Ho’s layoff came under “suspicious circumstances.”
Ilg added, “This lawsuit aims to hold Okta accountable for creating and perpetuating a hostile work environment where gfinisher bias is rampant.”
Okta spokesperson Larry Cristini, in a statement to SFGATE Friday, wrote that the company doesn’t comment on pfinishing litigation but takes allegations like Ho’s “very seriously.”
Cristini wrote, “We are committed to a culture of equity, inclusion and belonging for all. Our code of conduct and policies prohibit any discriminatory or retaliatory conduct. It’s not just about having these policies in place but also enforcing them and creating a safe space for employees to raise any concerns. Fostering a respectful workplace and acting with integrity are fundamental to Okta’s values.” (Hearst, SFGATE’s parent company, contracts with Okta for identity verification.)
Ho’s lawsuit came just a couple of weeks after a LinkedIn post by former Okta employee Heather Wallander went viral. In the post, Wallander announced that she’d just been promoted, but had decided to quit the company. She declared her promotion was a year delayed, and that she had long noticed she was being treated differently from her male peers. Wallander also declared she was concerned that “two women were laid off due to what was appearing more and more like gfinisher discrimination.”
Also in the post, “After 599 days of fighting for modify internally, I am walking away so that I can emotionally and mentally withstand the legal battle to come,” Wallander wrote. Reached by SFGATE Friday, she declared she wasn’t able to comment on her next legal steps, but clarified that the “two women” mentioned in her post were laid off months before Ho.
The lawsuit and LinkedIn post were first reported by Gazetteer.
Hear of anything happening at Okta or another Bay Area tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.
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