$3 billion Carta bypassed its Marketing VP to include this 'offensive' slide citing slavery in its Series E pitch-deck: lawsuit

* Carta disregarded its vice president of marketing's objections to a slide referencing "slavery" and startup equity ownership, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. * Emily Kramer was subject to gender discrimination and retaliation during her two year stint as the only female executive at Carta, according to the complaint. * She was excluded from decision-making and reprimanded when she objected to including the slide on the grounds that it was "offensive," the complaint says. * Carta spokeswoman Lauren O'Mahony declined to comment on the lawsuit. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. When Carta was fundraising in 2019 for what would become a $300 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, the company included a depiction of feudal fieldworkers that rubbed some people the wrong way. That slide, and how the company handled it, is a key detail in a new lawsuit filed Tuesday by Carta's former vice president of marketing, Emily Kramer, who claimed she was excluded from the pitchdeck process and reprimanded when she tried to stop the company from displaying the slide at a big tech conference. A screenshot of the slide, obtained by Business Insider, shows a short timeline of labor, beginning with "slavery" and ending with "ownership". "Ownership" is a reference to Carta's main product, an equity management software which helps startups track who owns shares in the company. Kramer said she was concerned that having the word "slavery" in a pitchdeck would be triggering for its viewers, but that she was reprimanded when she suggested it be removed. She told both Ward and human resources that she found the slide "offensive" but it stayed in the pitchdeck, according to the complaint. "It's just an insensitive slide and a message that could be told in a much more thoughtful and mindful matter," Kramer told Business Insider. The pitchdeck is just one example in the lawsuit, which alleges that Kramer was subject to gender discrimination and retaliation during her two year stint as the only female executive at the company. Kramer stepped down in November 2019, after Carta CEO Henry Ward called her an "asshole" and told her she had been given "passes" because she is a woman, according to the suit. Carta spokeswoman Lauren O'Mahony declined to comment on the lawsuit. SEE ALSO: A female exec is suing $3 billion Carta, alleging that the CEO likened her to an alcoholic who needed to recover from her 'a--hole' problem Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why American sunscreens may not be protecting you as much as European sunscreens
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Apple has backed down in its latest developer fight, apologizing to WordPress after it pressured the website-builder to add in-app payments

* Apple has apologized after it tried to force WordPress to add in-app payment options to a free app. * WordPress' founder said on Friday that Apple was refusing to allow any updates to the WordPress iOS app until the website builder added in-app purchases, from which Apple takes a 15-30% commission. * Apple is in a fierce fight with developers including "Fortnite" maker Epic Games and Spotify over its rules on in-app purchases. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Apple has backed down in its latest skirmish with a developer over its App Store rules. The tech giant on Sunday issued a rare apology to WordPress after it pressured the website builder to add payment options to its free iOS app, or else be blocked from updating. "We believe the issue with the WordPress app has been resolved," an Apple spokesman told The Verge. "Since the developer removed the display of their service payment options from the app, it is now a free st...

SpaceX has a 'go' from NASA to return 2 astronauts to Earth on Sunday as Hurricane Isaias threatens several Florida splashdown locations

* NASA on Saturday gave SpaceX a "go" to undock the company's first crewed space mission, called Demo-2, and land it on Sunday evening. * Hurricane Isaias complicated original plans to return two astronauts to Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship in the Atlantic Ocean. * Elon Musk's aerospace company may now try to splash down NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley in the Gulf of Mexico. * Two out of seven total landing sites near Florida must have good weather conditions, and NASA has until about 5 p.m. ET on Saturday to call off the undocking. * Should the weather worsen, NASA and SpaceX can try again a day later or some other date over the next two months. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have a "go" to return to Earth this weekend and wrap up an historic space mission for both NASA and SpaceX. Behnken and Hurley launched to orbit aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehic...

What an independent contractor actually is and how it's classified under California's Assembly Bill 5, the gig worker law Uber, Lyft, and others are fighting with a November ballot measure

* California's Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) went into effect in January, adopting a narrow definition of independent contractor that forces Uber and other gig economy businesses to choose between reclassifying workers as employees or risking significant liability for misclassification. * The law serves as a reminder to California businesses to be careful when classifying workers as contractors. * Classifying independent contractors falls into two main categories: the "right to control" test (often called the "IRS test") and the tougher "ABC test" recently adopted in AB5. * Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have recently poured $30 million into Proposition 22 — a ballot measure intended to exempt major ridesharing and food delivery companies from AB5. If California residents vote the measure into effect in November, Uber and Lyft can continue classifying drivers as contractors. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. In September 2019, Californ...

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