Microsoft announced Thursday that it has hired a law firm to review how the company has handled sexual harassment allegations against some of its top executives — including the founders. Bill Gates,
The review will be conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Errant Fox LLP, which was chosen by the board of directors because it has experience dealing with sexual harassment allegations and hasn’t done much work with the company in the past.
After the law firm’s findings become public, Microsoft is set to release a report detailing its sexual harassment investigation and what, if any, action has been taken as a result.
The company has been hit by sexual harassment allegations against Bill Gates, who announced his divorce from his longtime wife Melinda French Gates on May 3, 2021.
A few weeks later, the New York Times published a disclosure detailing how Gates sexually assaulted several of his employees and remained a loyal friend of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein for three years after he pleaded guilty to prostitution from a minor.
Founder Bill Gates met and married Melinda French Gates while she was working as the company’s product manager right out of college.
Gates is pictured with his ex-wife Melinda, second from right, and their three children
“Our culture remains our first priority and the entire board appreciates the vital importance of a safe and inclusive environment for all Microsoft employees,” Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said in a statement.
“We are committed to not only reviewing reports but learning from evaluations so that we can continue to improve the experiences of our employees,” she continued.
‘I take this comprehensive review as an opportunity to continue to get better.’
The move to hire an independent firm to review the company’s investigation comes after active shareholders demanded more disclosure of the company’s handling of sexual harassment issues.
A resolution demanding greater transparency was passed in November with the support of about 78 percent of shareholders, new York Times Reported.
Tech giant Microsoft announced Thursday that it has hired an independent law firm to review how the company has handled allegations of sexual harassment.
As part of the review, Errant Fox is expected to present his findings to Microsoft’s senior management and board members along with recommendations on how to improve the culture at the company. Wall Street Journal.
The company will then share a summary of the findings with the public in the spring, prompting the public to release Microsoft’s transparency report detailing the effectiveness of the company’s workplace policies related to sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
The report is expected to summarize the number of sexual assault cases investigated by Microsoft and what the results of those investigations were, and the results of investigations into Gates and other senior leaders.
In a statement, Microsoft executives said the report will “assess the steps it has taken to hold employees, including those responsible for sexual harassment or gender discrimination.”
The firm will also compare Microsoft’s sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies against best practices adopted by other companies.
Founder Bill Gates has been accused of soliciting at least two employees while he was running the technology giant
According to the Times, founder Bill Gates has been accused of soliciting at least two employees while running the tech giant.
In at least one instance, in 2007, it reports that Gates sat through a presentation by a Microsoft employee and then promptly emailed him asking for a date. He reportedly wrote: ‘If it makes you uncomfortable, pretend it never happened.’
Microsoft executives reportedly warned Gates not to do such things.
But years later on a work trip at a cocktail party, Gates reportedly asked a woman working for him to have dinner.
Then in 2019, Microsoft’s board received a letter from an engineer that claimed to have had an affair with Gates in 2000 that lasted several years.
Microsoft’s board investigated the incident and wanted Gates to resign from the board. business Insider Reported, and he stepped down a year later.
A spokesman for the billionaire said his decision to step down had nothing to do with the matter. In fact, he had expressed interest in spending more time on his philanthropy that he started several years ago.
Gates also met his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, when she joined the company as a product manager straight out of college. He asked her to go to the company’s parking lot one day, the insider reports.
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