Ellen Pao will appeal gender discrimination verdict [Update]

Ellen Pao will appeal the verdict in her sex discrimination case against former employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Business Insider has reported. There’s no indication yet on what grounds the appeal is being filed.

In denying her claim, a jury found that the venture capital firm was not motivated by gender discrimination in its refusal to promote her, or to eventually terminate her employment there.

Pao, now the interim chief executive officer of Reddit, filed a lawsuit for $16 million against her former employer, where she worked from 2005 to 2012.

“A 12-member jury found decisively in favor of KPCB on all four claims,” said KPCB’s Christina Lee in response to the appeal. “We remain committed to gender diversity in the workplace and believe that women in technology would be best served by focusing on this issue outside of continued litigation.”

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Pao claimed to be a victim of gender bias for enduring such actions as being excluded from an all-male dinner at Vice President Al Gore’s house and being asked to perform secretarial duties. Pao was fired in 2012 after she complained, and then she sued KPCB.

The venture capital company has maintained that Pao’s failure to advance was due to lack of merit — something reflected in her performance reviews — and not any sort of discrimination. The jury sided with the company in the landmark case.

KPCB had agreed to waive some $973,000 in court fees if Pao promised not to appeal the decision.

➤Ellen Pao will continue her fight in court [Business Insider]

Story was updated on 6/1 at 8:38 PST with a statement from KPCB.