The top engineering executive at Uber has resigned, adding to the company’s turmoil a week after the company found itself in an unrelated sexual harassment firestorm.
Amit Singhal, whose hire was announced just five weeks ago, failed to disclose that he had left his previous job at Google because of a sexual harassment allegation, according to the tech blog Recode.
Singhal denied the allegation and said he left Google a year ago for his own reasons.
The dustup is just the latest sign of turmoil at Uber, which last week found itself in an unrelated sexual harassment firestorm. That stemmed from a detailed essay published by a former female Uber engineer, who charged that her prospects at the company evaporated after she complained about sexual advances from her boss. In the post about her year at Uber, she said the company’s human resources department ignored her complaints because her boss was a high performer.
Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, has called for an independent investigation of those issues, and the company has hired former attorney general Eric Holder to help.
In addition, Uber is facing a lawsuit from Waymo, the self-driving car company owned by Google’s parent Alphabet, alleging that the ride-share company engaged in the “calculated theft” of its self-driving technology. All this on top of the viral #DeleteUber campaign and Kalanick’s controversial role on Donald Trump’s economic advisory council.
In a statement emailed to the Associated Press, Singhal said: “Harassment is unacceptable in any setting. I certainly want everyone to know that I do not condone and have not committed such behavior. In my 20-year career, I’ve never been accused of anything like this before and the decision to leave Google was my own.”
According to Recode, Singhal left Google after executives there informed him of a harassment allegation lodged by an employee that an internal investigation had found “credible”.
Representatives for Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Uber declined to comment beyond confirming that Singhal is no longer with the company.
