Microsoft to review board's Bill Gates inquiry, sexual harassment policies
Microsoft Corp., responding to a push from shareholders, has hired a law firm to review its sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies and scrutinize a 2019 board investigation of co-founder Bill Gates. The effort by Arent Fox LLP will include a summary of the board’s previous probe into allegations against Gates as well as the results of any harassment investigations since 2019 against other board members or members of Microsoft’s senior leadership team, the company said Thursday in a statement.
“The firm is experienced in these matters and has not previously been involved in representing Microsoft in employment matters, nor has it done a significant amount of work for the company in the past,” Microsoft said. Arent Fox will report to the board and Microsoft management, which will prepare a plan to act on recommendations. After that, the board will provide a public report, which it expects to release in the spring, of the findings and management’s plans to address them.
A non-binding shareholder resolution called on Microsoft to review the effectiveness of its sexual harassment policies. The resolution, sponsored by Arjuna Capital, was approved in November over the company’s opposition. It came after reports that Gates behaved inappropriately toward female employees years ago.
The law firm’s work will include an examination of concerns raised by employees in a lengthy 2019 email thread and actions Microsoft took to address those concerns. It will also examine steps taken to hold workers and executives accountable and include data on cases investigated since 2019 and their outcome, all items that were part of the resolution. The law firm will also benchmark Microsoft against best practices in place at other
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