This post has been updated.
A former Zillow employee filed a lawsuit against the real estate database company on Monday, accusing the company of cultivating a work environment full of sexual harassment, The Recorder reported.
According to the lawsuit, Zillow has a “pervasive culture of degrading women.” Former sales consultant Rachel Kremer said that her male coworkers ranked women by their breast size and made inappropriate and explicit comments to her in text messages.
Kremer claims that she was terminated after resisting the sexual advances of multiple Zillow employees. According to the lawsuit, Zillow tried to get Kremer to sign a confidentiality agreement upon her termination.
Kathleen Philips, the company’s chief operating officer, told The Recorder that Zillow was investigating Kremer’s claims.
“We don’t believe the allegations in the complaint are reflective of Zillow’s culture or workplace as a whole,” she wrote.
The lawsuit included text messages and emails Kremer received from male coworkers.
When Kremer texted a coworker asking for help resetting her password, he responded by saying, “Hy said he will reset your password for a boob picture.”
The same coworker sent her a text message that read, “Wanna blow me and have sex tonight?” He also once sent her a picture of his penis.
The lawsuit claims that a Zillow manager would approach Kremer while drunk and proposition her.
In a statement to TPM, Zillow said that after looking into Kremer’s claims, the company fired an employee.
“When this allegation was first made, we immediately investigated these claims and as a result took quick action and terminated a sales employee in our Irvine office. The allegations in the complaint do not reflect Zillow’s culture or workplace and are completely inconsistent with our values. We don’t tolerate harassment of any kind,” Zillow said in the statement.
Read the complaint via Gawker:
The photo is of Spencer Rascoff, the Zillow founder and CEO. He’s not the male mentioned in the article. Might want to point this out more clearly, TPM
I think a better headline would be, “Zillow Dev demands sex to do his jobs.”
‘Adult Frat House’ Really?
‘Adult Frat House’ is in the filing. Of course, Mark Geragos is the lead attorney. (Yes, the same Geragos who defended Michael Jackson)
A fish rots from the head down…
TPM not quite back from vacation. That’s cool, I’m kinda foggy today too.