Former Wikimedia employee says abuse at the nonprofit is "organization wide"

A trans software engineer fired by Wikipedia is speaking out after she filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit website claiming wrongful termination.

Kayla Mae said that the “bigotry” described in her suit is “organization wide” and that most of her former colleagues “are as against the problems in leadership as I was.”

“Unfortunately, I became the squeaky wheel for management to retaliate against by reporting the discrimination,” Mae wrote on Reddit, “instead of quietly leaving like others did.”

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Mae was hired in 2022 by the Wikimedia Foundation, the website’s parent organization, as a software engineer in a remote role based in Texas, The Desk reported in May. Her direct supervisor was based in Kenya.

The lawsuit states that from the moment the neurodivergent, transgender woman was hired, she faced abuse and harassment by her supervisor, leading her to file complaints with Wikimedia Foundation’s human resources department.

Among other things, her supervisor asked her inappropriate questions about her sexual identity and inquired about her medical history. In emails to HR, Mae characterized other behavior by the supervisor as “transphobic microaggressions” and “ableism”. She wrote that the situation made her “dread work.”

An initial internal investigation ultimately determined that her supervisor’s actions were “inappropriate” and a violation of the organization’s policy, Mae said, but it was unclear what actions were taken against him.

After repeatedly being denied transfer to another team, Mae was asked to meet with managers so that Wikimedia could “learn more about your recent experiences.”

A week later, Mae affirmed in that meeting that her supervisor’s behavior hadn’t improved. Shortly after, she was fired, the lawsuit states.

After her dismissal, Mae filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission, alleging her firing was based on her gender identity and disability. Earlier this year, the agency granted her a Notice of Right to Sue, which paved the way for her lawsuit filed in federal court last month.

Mae said working at Wikimedia Foundation was “my dream job… and I felt unbelievably betrayed.”

“When I was fired, I received several emails from former co-workers expressing concern at WMF’s leadership, and similar stories of people terminated in suspicious ways,” she said, referring to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Mae was warned that one of her managers was “a ‘fixer’ who goes after employees that were seen as stirring the pot.”

Her lawsuit states that the Wikimedia Foundation responded to her Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint by saying that the organization intended to fire Mae before the meeting where she was informed of her termination over Zoom.

“In some ways, I think it was an extra f*ck you, so my health insurance would expire immediately,” Mae said in her Reddit post.

“I am very grateful that I was able to compartmentalize this process, with a splash of righteous anger keeping me going,” Mae wrote on Tuesday. “It has been exhausting for me, too, and will continue to be exhausting for however long it’s in court.”

In 2020, Wikipedia instituted a new code of conduct to battle what the organization called “toxic behavior” by some volunteers, in particular against women and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“We must work together to create a safe, inclusive culture, where everyone feels welcome, that their contributions are valued, and that their perspective matters,” said Katherine Maher, the chief executive officer at Wikimedia.

“Our goal is all the world’s knowledge, and this is an essential step on our journey.”

A check of comments on the Glassdoor employment site reveals continued reports of dysfunction at the nonprofit.

One employee wrote that there was “no support staff” to address “leadership’s bad behavior and toxic culture.” The post was dated just months before Mae was hired.

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