Ellen Pao took an important step in her sex descrimination suit against venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Saturday morning.
Judge Harold Kahn denied a motion by the defendant Kleiner Perkins to rule out the possibility of punitive damages against the firm.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1683413,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,","session":"C"}']The judge decided that sufficient evidence of gender discrimination exists to leave open the possibility of Pao receiving punitive damages, among other awards.
From Kahn’s decision:
AI Weekly
The must-read newsletter for AI and Big Data industry written by Khari Johnson, Kyle Wiggers, and Seth Colaner.
Included with VentureBeat Insider and VentureBeat VIP memberships.
“There is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could conclude that Kleiner Perkins engaged in intentional gender discrimination by failing to promote Ms. Pao and terminating her employment and that Kleiner Perkins attempted to hide its illegal conduct by offering knowingly false and pretextual explanations for its decisions not to promote Ms. Pao and to terminate her employment.”
Pao is suing KPCB for $16 million in lost wages.
Source: Wall Street Journal
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More