Yelp boss blames high rent for workers being unable to afford groceries in response to employee's sacking for open letter
Yelp chief executive Jeremy Stoppelman has defended the company’s pay structure, following the sacking of a customer support employee who penned an open letter to him in which she revealed she was almost living in poverty.
Jeremy Stoppelman Yelp
Talia Jane was fired from the internet company after publishing an open letter to the Yelp co-founder, Jeremy Stoppelman, on Friday (19 February), in which she highlighted the crippling financial struggles which she and her co-workers were enduring as a result of low pay.
An Open Letter To My CEO: https://t.co/F7ekRtOm04
— Lady Murderface (@itsa_talia) February 19, 2016
In the letter Jane revealed her bi-weekly paycheck of $733.24 left her unable to pay for both groceries and travel after she had paid her San Francisco rent of $1,245. According to her letter Jane’s struggles are shared by many of her co-workers, she said “every single one of my co-workers is struggling” and claimed that many were forced to take side jobs or live with their parents. In an update to her letter Jane confirmed that she had been sacked from Yelp and she told Quartz that an email from the company’s HR department explained the reason for her termination was because the “letter violated Yelp’s Terms of Conduct and for that reason, they (Yelp/Eat24) had to ‘separate’ from me.”
Stoppelman was quick to respond to the damning allegations with a series of tweets which appeared to shift the blame of the company’s employees’ financial struggles to San Francisco’s high rent prices.
1/5 Late last night I read Talia's medium contribution and want to acknowledge her point that the cost of living in SF is far too high. — Jeremy Stoppelman (@jeremys) February 20, 2016
2/5 I have been focused on this issue, backing anti-NIMBY group SFBARF and speaking out frequently about the need to lower cost of housing.
— Jeremy Stoppelman (@jeremys) February 20, 2016
3/5 I've not been personally involved in Talia being let go and it was not because she posted a Medium letter directed at me. — Jeremy Stoppelman (@jeremys) February 20, 2016
4/5 Two sides to every HR story so Twitter army please put down the pitchforks. The reality of such a high Bay Area cost of living is...
— Jeremy Stoppelman (@jeremys) February 20, 2016
5/5 entry level jobs migrate to where costs of living are lower. Have already announced we are growing EAT24 support in AZ for this reason. — Jeremy Stoppelman (@jeremys) February 20, 2016