The male-dominated tech industry’s alleged mistreatment of women has been well documented. Numerous stories of harassment and disparate treatment against women in terms of pay and promotions have come to light in recent years long before the #MeToo movement. Those stories, many involving some of the largest and most respected companies in the United States, have received a lot of media coverage. The nature of many of the allegations were at first surprising and the seeming pervasiveness of the problem alarming.
Then, last week, I read a Newsweek article that was even more shocking. According to the article, certain Seattle employees with some of the largest and most well-known tech companies in the world (including Microsoft and Amazon, among others) have purportedly used their company-issued email accounts to buy services from prostitutes and their pimps.
Several tech industry employees in Seattle have been arrested and charged as part of ongoing investigations into these practices. Some of these men would allegedly even meet in person over drinks in public places to discuss and review their experiences. There are also message boards and websites dedicated to rating and advertising the services of these women in the Seattle area, with many of the boards listing each woman’s geographic proximity to the large tech employers in the area.
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A study from the Department of Justice noted that Seattle has the quickest-growing sex industry anywhere in the United States. The study found that the industry more than doubled in size between 2005 and 2012, coinciding with the area’s tech boom. What makes this situation even worse is that, according to Newsweek, many of the sex workers are victims of human trafficking. Many of the women involved are in debt bondage to their pimps and live in fear for their lives or the safety of their families.
I was pretty surprised that employees at these elite companies conducted these activities from their work email accounts. It made me think: If these folks were brazen enough to email pimps from their work accounts about buying prostitution services, what else have they been doing? Pairing that with the bullish rise of the tech industry in Seattle, and I was reminded of the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.
In case you haven’t seen it, the movie is about the rapid rise and fall of stockbroker Jordan Belfort in the late 1980s. During his firm’s heyday, prostitutes and quaaludes took the place of morning donuts and coffee. It’s the sordid tale of what happens when a company and an industry place profits above everything else and ignore a pervasive culture of unacceptable workplace behavior. Spoiler: The movie doesn’t have a happy ending for Mr. Belfort or his company.
Much like Harvey Weinstein, there are no allegations I’m aware of that these employees engaged in any misconduct against their coworkers. Also like Weinstein, it appears that these individuals used their own personal money and possibly influence to engage in these alleged actions. And so, like Harvey Weinstein, it’s unlikely that any employment laws would provide recourse to anyone that may have been victimized by these individuals (which I wrote about here and here).
Could the companies themselves take action against these employees and fire them? Absolutely. But that’s about all the companies can do directly to their employees besides cooperating with any criminal investigations.
Companies can, however, actively work to change the culture at work. Training employees and holding them strictly accountable is the only way to create the major paradigm shift that’s needed to end and prevent this type of behavior from happening in the workplace. Looking the other way and not appropriately disciplining employees is what can create a culture where buying prostitutes through one’s work email is something someone would actually consider doing.
And so while there likely isn’t liability under any U.S. employment laws for any of the employers stemming from these allegations, hopefully the media coverage surrounding these events and the #MeToo movement have created enough momentum to make lasting changes. Otherwise, we might be watching The Snake of Seattle as a sequel to The Wolf of Wall Street.
Evan Gibbs is an attorney at Troutman Sanders, where he primarily litigates employment cases and handles traditional labor matters. Connect with him on LinkedIn here, or e-mail him here. (The views expressed in this column are his own.)