Engineer Alleges Roku Fired Her Because It Preferred Hiring Indians, S. Asians

A California woman of Chinese descent was fired Aug. 1 from Roku as a senior software engineer because her Indian department head preferred to hire other Indians and South Asians, she alleged in a racial and sexual discrimination complaint (in Pacer) Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose. Beijia Beckett, a naturalized U.S. citizen who worked for Roku for about 40 months, also was paid “less than male employees at Roku who were engaged in work that required equal skill, effort, and responsibility to hers and that was performed under similar working conditions,” in violation of federal equal-pay statutes, said the complaint. Of the 36 employees department head Abhijit Pol hired since January 2016, all but six were of Indian/South Asian descent, it said. Of the four employees Pol fired during that time, three were non-Indian/South Asian, including Beckett, it said. Beckett filed discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which “cross-filed” her complaint with California authorities, it said. She received notices from both of the right to sue alleging violations of federal and state fair-employment statutes, it said. A Roku spokesperson declined comment Tuesday.