Rivian Automotive Inc.’s former Vice President of Sales and Marketing Laura Schwab said she filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Irvine electric vehicle start-up, alleging gender discrimination.
Schwab is the former president of Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.’s Americas business – the first female to hold the position there. She left the luxury automaker late last year to join Rivian.
Schwab filed her lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. She also took to Medium to explain her decision to sue her former employer.
“Rivian publicly boasts about its culture, so it was a crushing blow when I joined the company and almost immediately experienced a toxic bro culture that marginalizes women and contributes to the company making mistakes,” Schwab wrote in her post. “I raised concerns to HR about the gender discrimination from my manager, the ‘boys club’ culture and the impact it was having on me, my team and the company. Two days later, my boss fired me.”
The allegations come as Rivian gears up for an IPO, with a valuation as high as $55 billion, and the recent start of deliveries of its first consumer vehicle, the R1T truck.
A spokesperson for Rivian declined to comment Thursday on Schwab’s lawsuit or post, citing the company’s quiet period.
Schwab alleges in her post a pattern of being left out of meetings necessary for her to perform her job and specifically points a finger at Chief Growth Officer Jiten Behl for “instances of exclusion and marginalization.”
Schwab said two days after expressing her concerns to HR, she was terminated by Behl, who cited a company reorganization.
