A Microsoft employee is suing the company for discrimination

A longtime Microsoft employee has sued the company, alleging that she was subjected to race, gender and age discrimination in her role as a software test manager in the Microsoft Azure cloud computing division. The suit by employee Nancy Williams was first reported by the Seattle Times. It alleges that Williams’ manager gave preferential treatment to male colleagues while dismissing Williams’ suggestions, excluding her from internal suggestions, and blaming her for situations that weren’t her responsibility.

A 53-year-old Maple Valley woman has filed a lawsuit accusing Microsoft of gender, race and age discrimination. Nancy Williams said in her lawsuit, filed Monday in King County Superior Court, that she was subjected to discrimination and differential treatment, as well as a hostile work environment based on her gender, race (Hispanic) and age. Williams, who is on medical leave from her job as a software-test manager in Microsoft Azure, has been a full-time Microsoft employee since 1996. She joined the Azure group in 2010. Williams contends in her suit that the workplace environment at Azure, which was dominated by male engineers, a “substantial percentage of whom were foreign born and of East Indian heritage,” was not supportive of women employees. Microsoft was aware of that but put up with it because Azure, its cloud-computing platform, was a vital part of its business strategy, the lawsuit alleges. In a statement, Microsoft said the company “provides an environment where all employees have the opportunity to be successful. We take these claims seriously and will address them with the court.”