What happened
In June 2020, shortly after they left Pinterest, former public-policy employees Ifeoma Ozoma, who is Black, and Aerica Shimizu Banks went public. Reuters reported Ozoma said the company’s Black Lives Matter-era statement was “a joke” after she had fought more than a year to be paid and leveled fairly, and that Banks described a racist and sexist workplace, including comments about her ethnicity. CNBC reported they said compensation fights were rebuffed and that they faced retaliation after hiring outside counsel, and described doxxing and scrutiny of Black-community outreach spending.
Pinterest declined to answer the specific allegations CNBC shared. A spokesperson said the company took the issues seriously, investigated, and was “confident both employees were treated fairly,” while committing to further inclusion and diversity work.
The Cookout read
Mixed. Two former policy staffers saying they were underpaid, racially mistreated, and punished for speaking up is a serious workplace-civil-rights allegation. The company’s investigation-and-fair-treatment line is a denial, not a referee’s ruling. This file will not invent a settlement dollar for Ozoma or Banks, and it will not treat a D&I statement as erasing the charge.