Uber won't compensate the family of an employee who committed suicide
https://news.fastcompany.com/uber-w...om/uber-wont-compensate-the-family-of-an-employee-who-committed-suicide-4035887
Uber's insurance provider has refused the benefits claim of the family of Joseph Thomas, a 34-year-old Uber engineer who took his life in August of last year, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Thomas had landed the $170,000 role at Uber just five months earlier, but soon became depressed and suffered from extreme stress and anxiety, which he told a doctor and friends was due to the extreme work environment at Uber. As Thomas told a friend on Facebook:
"Man words can't really describe. I'm not dead but I wouldn't describe myself as ok. The sad thing is this place (Uber) has broken me to the point where I don't have the strength to look for another job."
Because Thomas worked for Uber for less than six months, Uber's insurance provider denied the benefits claim of his family-a wife and two children-because under California law workers' compensation usually doesn't cover psychiatric injuries until a person has been employed for at least six months. For this reason, Uber says its insurance company is simply following statutory requirements. Yet there is an exception to that law: "If the psychiatric injury is caused by a sudden and extraordinary employment condition," the six-month limit does not apply.
Thomas's family is now locked in a legal battle because they claim his suicide was a direct result of Uber's hostile work environment. "We think it was stress and harassment induced by his job, between him being one of the few African-Americans there, working around the clock, and the culture of Uber [that caused his suicide]. And he couldn't talk about it to anyone because of nondisclosure agreements," the family's lawyer said.
Update: An Uber spokeswoman reached out with the following statement on behalf of the company: "No family should go through the unspeakable heartbreak the Thomas family has experienced. Our prayers and thoughts are with them." MG
https://news.fastcompany.com/uber-w...om/uber-wont-compensate-the-family-of-an-employee-who-committed-suicide-4035887
Uber's insurance provider has refused the benefits claim of the family of Joseph Thomas, a 34-year-old Uber engineer who took his life in August of last year, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Thomas had landed the $170,000 role at Uber just five months earlier, but soon became depressed and suffered from extreme stress and anxiety, which he told a doctor and friends was due to the extreme work environment at Uber. As Thomas told a friend on Facebook:
"Man words can't really describe. I'm not dead but I wouldn't describe myself as ok. The sad thing is this place (Uber) has broken me to the point where I don't have the strength to look for another job."
Because Thomas worked for Uber for less than six months, Uber's insurance provider denied the benefits claim of his family-a wife and two children-because under California law workers' compensation usually doesn't cover psychiatric injuries until a person has been employed for at least six months. For this reason, Uber says its insurance company is simply following statutory requirements. Yet there is an exception to that law: "If the psychiatric injury is caused by a sudden and extraordinary employment condition," the six-month limit does not apply.
Thomas's family is now locked in a legal battle because they claim his suicide was a direct result of Uber's hostile work environment. "We think it was stress and harassment induced by his job, between him being one of the few African-Americans there, working around the clock, and the culture of Uber [that caused his suicide]. And he couldn't talk about it to anyone because of nondisclosure agreements," the family's lawyer said.
Update: An Uber spokeswoman reached out with the following statement on behalf of the company: "No family should go through the unspeakable heartbreak the Thomas family has experienced. Our prayers and thoughts are with them." MG
