Just because a San Francisco jury voted in favor of Kleiner Perkins doesn’t mean Ellen Pao is done with her gender discrimination lawsuit. Despite the fact that Kleiner Perkins offered to waive nearly a million dollars in legal fees if Pao promised not to appeal the ruling, Pao will still be appealing it, which means that the lawsuit that’s been shaking Silicon Valley will continue for a few more months at least.
Former Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers partner Ellen Pao will appeal the result of a gender discrimination she brought against the powerful Silicon Valley venture capital firm, according to a court document filed on Monday. A San Francisco jury cleared Kleiner Perkins in March of claims it short-circuited Pao’s career because she is a woman, in a case that helped spark a wide discussion about gender at the center of the U.S. technology industry. Pao’s spokeswoman, Heather Wilson, declined to comment beyond confirming the appeal. Kleiner spokeswoman Christina Lee said: “We remain committed to gender diversity in the workplace and believe that women in technology would be best served by focusing on this issue outside of continued litigation.” Pao, now interim chief executive at social-news service Reddit, claimed her standing at Kleiner Perkins crumbled after she ended a brief affair with a partner, Ajit Nazre. She claimed her career deteriorated after both Nazre and Kleiner Perkins started retaliating against her in a climate that was overall unfriendly toward women, her lawyers argued.
