San Francisco, Nov 1 (IANS): WeWork's ousted CEO Adam Neumann has been accused of pregnancy discrimination by a former chief of staff to the company's co-founder. According to a complaint, she was repeatedly discriminated against while pregnant during her tenure at the company, according to media reports.

According to a complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Thursday, Neumann's former chief of staff Medina Bardhi said that he smoked weed on a jet in front of her, that female employees at the company made significantly less than their male colleagues, and that she was subject to workplace retaliation for taking pregnancy leave, according to a report in Gizmodo.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, claims that female staffers at WeWork are regularly paid less for the same work than male employees.

According to Bardhi, the male employee who replaced her while she was on pregnancy leave received three times her level of pay for the same job.

"It is astonishing that WeWork could reward Adam Neumann's blatant sexist behaviour with a staggering and unprecedented golden parachute worth over a reported $1 billion, while the Company has subjected Bardhi and other women to repeated and systematic marginalisation, lesser pay than their male colleagues, and retaliation for having the courage to raise legitimate complaints of gender and pregnancy discrimination," Douglas Wigdor of Wigdor LLP, who is representing Bardhi, was quoted by Gizmodo as saying.