WeWork founder faces sex bias lawsuit

Troubled offices firm WeWork has suffered another headache in the form of discrimination allegations and an accusation its ousted boss smoked marijuana on planes.

The allegations of discrimination and gender pay disparity add to WeWork’s torrid year that has seen it shelve plans for a float and its valuation plunge. Shareholder Softbank agreed a $1.5 billion rescue deal for the office rental business.

In a complaint filed with the federal equal employment opportunity commission in New York yesterday, WeWork’s former chief of staff Medina Bardhi said she began suffering discrimination soon after telling co-founder and then-boss Adam Neumann she was pregnant in 2016.

Bardhi said she had been hesitant to tell Neumann about her early pregnancy stage, but was forced to do so because of his smoking marijuana on planes. The complaint filing said: "Ms Bardhi was forced to tell Mr Neumann at that time because she knew she had to explain why she could no longer accompany Mr Neumann on business travel, particularly due to his penchant for bringing marijuana on chartered flights and smoking it throughout the flight while in the enclosed cabin. Ms Bardhi obviously could not expose her unborn child to marijuana smoke, much less in such an enclosed space for hours at a time."

Bardhi added that she had lost her position to a male colleague during her second maternity leave and was told to leave the company on October 2. That “came just weeks after she had raised concerns with management regarding discrimination in connection with her pregnancy and maternity leave”, the complaint filing said.

Neumann agreed to step down in September.

She also claims Neumann referred to her maternity leave as a “vacation”.

WeWork said: “We have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. ”

The company intends to “vigorously defend” itself against the claim.