Former Tinder marketing Vice President Whitney Wolfe is suing the popular dating-app company for sexual harassment and discrimination in a Los Angeles Superior Court, making it the latest technology business to face challenges over its treatment of women, according to Reuters.
Wolfe's lawsuit, filed Monday, listed a series of alleged incidents of harassment over roughly 18 months starting in late 2012, Reuters reported.
Among the allegations was that Chief Executive Officer Sean Rad and the company's chief marketing officer, Justin Mateen, removed her title as co-founder because of her gender; and that Mateen publicly insulted her, including calling her a whore at a company party, while Rad ignored her complaints, according to Reuters. The lawsuit alleges that Wolfe resigned after Mateen called her a whore at a company party in April.
IAC owns a majority stake in Los Angeles-based Tinder and is also a defendant, along with fellow dating site and Match.comm Reuters reported.
A spokesman for IAC said that Mateen had been suspended pending an ongoing internal investigation, and called messages he sent Wolfe "inappropriate," according to Reuters.
In the lawsuit, Wolfe says she came up with the name "Tinder" for the service in mid-2012, shortly after its creation, amid worries that its original name, Matchbox, was too similar to Match.com, Reuters reported.
The lawsuit says Wolfe became romantically involved with Mateen, her boss, who joined the company in late 2012, according to Reuters.
Although she was designated a co-founder in a November 2012 meeting, Mateen told her that having a "girl founder" devalued the company, according to the lawsuit. In November 2013, Mateen and Rad removed her co-founder title, Reuters reported.
As her romance broke down, the suit says, Mateen called her "a desperate loser" in a marketing meeting and told Rad and others she was an alcoholic, according to Reuters. He also sent her a series of harassing texts, it states.
Wolfe complained to Rad, who would ignore her "or call her a dramatic or emotional girl," the suit says, adding that in one meeting, Rad told her it was her job to "keep Justin calm," Reuters reported.
The allegations come as Silicon Valley draws fire for its female-unfriendly atmosphere, which activists say contributes to the low number of female technology executives and company founders, according to Reuters.
Some have dubbed the culture at many companies as one of the "brogrammer," meaning a partying male programmer, Reuters reported.
