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Spotify sued for alleged gender discrimination and equal pay violation

A lawsuit issued by a former executive claims “boys’ trips” to strip clubs...

Spotify is being sued for gender discrimination, equal pay violation, and defamation, it has been reported.

Hong Perez, a former sales executive at Spotify, filed the lawsuit against the company yesterday at the New York Supreme Court.

Perez’ lawsuit accuses the company of widespread discrimination against female employees, alleging that her former boss Brian Berner took men-only groups to Sundance Film Festival in 2016 and 2017. She claims that they were internally referred to as “boys’ trips”.

She further alleges that employees of the company talked about drug use on these trips and one employee was involved in a physical altercation. Nobody, she says, was disciplined following this.

Perez also says that Berner got in trouble for accepting free tickets to Madison Square Garden and falsely blamec her for the situation which resulted in her being fired. Perez claimed the company sent an email to the Spotify sales team alleging that she violated the company’s code of conduct. “Berner was well aware of male employees violating the code of conduct, yet did nothing,” the lawsuit claims.

Additional allegations issued in the lawsuit include the claim that a different Spotify executive was promoted despite receiving sexual harassment warnings.

Spotify have responded to the lawsuit with a statement issued to Pitchfork. “At Spotify, we do not tolerate discrimination of any kind at any level,” a spokesperson says. “While we cannot comment on the specific details of a pending litigation, these claims are without merit.”

Earlier this week, it was revealed that major labels have been frustrated by Spotify’s decision to strike deals with independent artists.

Last month, Warner Music Group cashed out all its shares in Spotify to the tune of $504 million.