Pinterest to pay $22.5M to settle a gender discrimination suit brought by ex-COO Françoise Brougher, who said she was fired after speaking up about mistreatment
The suit had been brought by Françoise Brougher, Pinterest's former chief operating officer, who said she was fired after speaking up about mistreatment.
New York TimesErin Griffith
Context & Ripple Effects
Françoise Brougher filed suit in August 2020, alleging Pinterest fired her in April after she complained about sexist treatment, and published a detailed public account of her claims and recommendations. The $22.5M settlement closes the highest-profile of the discrimination cases that have dogged Pinterest since — a run that includes the [[a:1158764|November 2021 settlement releasing employees from NDAs alongside a pledged $50M culture overhaul]] and, years later, the $34.7M payout to early adviser Christine Martinez.
The settlement lands mid-arc: Brougher had already gone public with former employees Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks about sexism and racism at the company, so the money resolves the legal claim but not the reputational campaign around it.
First-order effects
Pinterest pays $22.5M and ends the public courtroom fight with its former COO, while Brougher converts her August 2020 allegations into a financially validated outcome.
Second-order effects
The payout strengthens the hand of remaining claimants — the shareholder suit and the employee discrimination claims that Pinterest later settled with the NDA release and $50M culture pledge — by showing the company will pay rather than litigate these cases.
Third-order effects
The pattern across Pinterest's successive settlements points to NDAs losing their protective power: money is increasingly paired with released speech and structural diversity commitments, making executive-level discrimination claims a recurring balance-sheet line rather than a one-off.
The trend: Senior women's discrimination claims against major tech companies are increasingly ending in paid settlements paired with structural commitments, as NDA-based silence erodes.
Pinterest just settled a gender discrimination lawsuit brought by former COO Françoise Brougher for $22.5 million. She came forward after @IfeomaOzoma & @erikashimizu spoke up about racism and sexism at the company. Ozoma and Banks got less than a year's severance when they left:…
“She added that discrimination against female executives would be solved only when women ‘are more the norm than the exception’ in executive roles.” https://twitter.com/...
NEW: Pinterest agreed to pay $20 million plus $2.5 million in charity to settle the gender discrimination lawsuit brought by @FrancoiseBr https://www.nytimes.com/...
I've been in a grief cocoon but needed to say how deeply messed up this is. @IfeomaOzoma and @erikashimizu took tremendous personal risk, got doxxed, still deal with harassment, and a white woman executive was compensated for discrimination once they had already risked it all. ht…
Brougher just got a cool $22.5M which is life-changing money for an individual and also not a drop in the bucket for Pinterest. Great deal all around for everyone except @IfeomaOzoma& @erikashimizu, the 2 black women who risked everything and received nothing. https://twitter.com…
Pinterest agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle a gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit from its former chief operating officer, in one of the largest publicly announced individual settlements for gender discrimination. By @eringriffith https://www.nytimes.com/...
One of these things is not like the other: Pinterest did not admit to liability as part of the gender discrimination settlement, according to Pinterest's global head of communications, LeMia Jenkins. Brougher and her attorneys will receive $20 million. https://www.washingtonpost.…
It's truly and completely fucked that @IfeomaOzoma and @erikashimizu went public, put their careers and reputations on the line, and got less than a year severance when the exec their labor helped convince to go public settles for $22.5m. https://twitter.com/...
@IfeomaOzoma and @erikashimizu called for systemic change at Pinterest and the broader industry at great personal expense. They have been gaslit and ignored, despite their industry-leading and successful policy recommendations that Pinterest and others have profited from greatly.…