Rivian EV Pickup Truck.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
A former feminine government at Rivian is accusing the electrical automobile start-up of firing her for elevating considerations in regards to the firm having a “poisonous bro tradition.”
In a Medium submit printed Thursday afternoon, Laura Schwab, who joined Rivian late final 12 months from Aston Martin, describes the corporate as a “boys membership” by which feminine executives corresponding to herself had been unnoticed of essential conferences and marginalized.
“Rivian publicly boasts about its tradition, so it was a crushing blow once I joined the corporate and nearly instantly skilled a poisonous bro tradition that marginalizes ladies and contributes to the corporate making errors,” she mentioned. “I raised considerations to HR in regards to the gender discrimination from my supervisor, the ‘boys membership’ tradition, and the impression it was having on me, my workforce, and the corporate. Two days later, my boss fired me.”
Rivian spokeswoman Amy Mast declined to touch upon Schwab’s submit and the allegations. She cited restrictions of the corporate’s quiet interval as a part of its IPO, which it filed for in August. The corporate is anticipated to listing on the Nasdaq as early as subsequent week.
In a LinkedIn submit, Schwab additionally mentioned she has filed a lawsuit towards Rivian for gender discrimination and retaliation.
Schwab, who beforehand served as Aston Martin’s American division president, was employed final November as Rivian’s first vice chairman of gross sales and advertising and marketing. She was a high-profile addition for the corporate following a 20-year profession with the famed British luxurious model in addition to Jaguar Land Rover.
Schwab’s submit known as “Life Exterior the Boys Membership: Why I Spoke Up About Rivian’s Poisonous Bro Tradition (and Obtained Fired).” In it, Schwab mentioned she was “excited” to affix Rivian, however that pleasure rapidly turned to emotions of marginalization following an alleged sample of exclusion among the many firm’s prime male executives.
“Regardless of my 20 years of auto expertise, and my place as VP of Gross sales and Advertising, I used to be excluded from essential conferences that impacted our mission and my workforce,” Schwab wrote. “Time and time once more, I raised considerations concerning automobile pricing and manufacturing deadlines, however nobody listened, despite the fact that I’ve intensive expertise launching and pricing autos. It wasn’t till my (usually much less skilled) male colleagues raised the very same concepts that the Chief Industrial Officer would reply. By no means in my years within the auto trade had I skilled such blatant marginalization.”
It wasn’t instantly clear who serves as Rivian’s chief industrial officer, who Schwab mentioned she reported to and was fired by. The corporate doesn’t listing such a place on its web site or in its IPO registration kind.
Schwab alleged that her boss mentioned the reasoning for her firing was a “bigger ‘reorganization.'” Schwab argues she was the one individual “reorganized” although.
“I identified that there was no coincidence in my firing and my elevating considerations of bro tradition and gender discrimination simply two days earlier,” she mentioned. “The very individual I had flagged as selling the discriminatory tradition was the one who terminated me.”
CNBC reached out to Schwab, who didn’t instantly reply for remark.
