Tinder Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Moves to Arbitration

Rosette Pambakian has appealed the decision made by a US District Judge to move her sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit into arbitration.

The ruling was made just before Christmas and orders that her allegations against ex-Tinder CEO Greg Blatt must be settled outside of the courts. The former VP of Marketing and Communications claims that he inappropriately touched female employees, including herself, at a company party in 2016.

She had previously signed an arbitration clause in her Match Group contract, but it was argued that it didn’t cover sexual harassment.

The same clause forced Pambakian to withdraw from the Tinder founders’ $2 billion lawsuit against Match Group and IAC. The case alleges that the plaintiffs, led by Sean Rad, were paid too little after their stock options were deliberately undervalued by the parent companies.

The issue will now be taken before the ‘United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’, the largest court of appeal in the country.

Greg Blatt filed a $50 million counter-lawsuit in October for defamation of character. His side of the story argued that the pair engaged in consensual, fully-clothed “snuggling and nuzzling”.

He also referenced a group chat message sent by Pambakian to other Tinder employees. It shows her describing the incident as “hotel antics”, and encouraging everyone to “rehash [the story] amongst ourselves as much as possible”.

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