Dive Brief:
- Yelp fired a low-paid worker for violating company policy after she wrote a scathing online note to the company CEO, Jeremy Stoppelmann. The document discussed her inadequate wages, earning the company (and the employee) mixed reviews in media outlets, including Fortune, PC Magazine and The Huffington Post, among others.
- Talia Jane, a customer service rep for Eat24, Yelp's food delivery unit, said in the letter that she could not afford groceries, had no heat and spent most of her salary on rent in San Francisco, one of the nation's most expensive places to live.
- After she was fired, Stoppelmann tweeted several responses to Jane's letter, including an admission that the company is sensitive to the fact real estate in the Bay Area is out of reach for lower-paid workers.
Dive Insight:
Employers operating in high-cost real estate markets are in the spotlight for paychecks that fall short in terms of employees earning a living wage. Retaining workers in such locales may depend on employers paying more attention to this issue.
Stoppleman said he had no personal role in the firing, and Jane said HR and her manager told her she was no longer an employee at Yelp.
A Yelp spokesperson told Fortune and other media outlets that the company does not comment on personnel matters, and its official announcement on the firing says it was not due to the letter. However, the Yelp spokesperson did agree that living in San Francisco is expensive and added that in December, Yelp said it is expanding Eat24 customer support team to the company's Phoenix office, where living costs are lower, Fortune reports.
