Ethereum Foundation faces lawsuit from terminated employee alongside Vitalik Buterin
Kayleen Fulton, a former employee of the Ethereum Foundation, has filed a legal complaint alleging retaliation and discrimination based on disability, with Vitalik Buterin among those named.
The Ethereum Foundation, together with its co-founder Vitalik Buterin and four additional individuals, is facing a lawsuit brought by a former staff member.
According to Kayleen Fulton's allegations, her termination occurred following her revelation of a cancer diagnosis and her role in coordinating a staff petition that questioned a directive connected to the foundation's newly established mandate.
The legal filing was submitted by Fulton, who served as the head of the foundation's protocol support team and goes by "Nixo" within the Ethereum community, on Nov. 4 at the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. According to her allegations, Bastian Aue, who held the position of co-executive director at that point in time, terminated her employment on April 6, a mere 13 days following her cancer diagnosis disclosure. The legal complaint further alleges that Buterin participated in adopting and implementing the directive in his capacity as a board member.
According to Fulton's account, she worked with colleague Trent Van Epps to coordinate a letter responding to the mandate that garnered 53 signatures. The letter expressed support for the mandate's objectives but raised concerns about a stipulation requiring employees to endorse it as a condition of continued employment. The legal filing alleges that shortly thereafter, on April 6, Aue terminated both Fulton and Van Epps within a 30-minute window. Fulton's allegations include disability discrimination, retaliation and interference with her rights to medical leave, and she is pursuing compensation for lost wages and damages.
The legal filing additionally states that certain employees raised objections to language in the mandate that referenced ritual suicide and includes a quote from Aue informing staff members that the wording should be understood figuratively.
According to a May 14 letter cited in the complaint, legal counsel representing the foundation's Singapore affiliate, Ethereum Asia Pacific Limited, rejected claims that Fulton had experienced unlawful conduct or retaliation and asserted that her separation agreement remained legally binding. Cointelegraph attempted to contact the foundation, Fulton and Van Epps for their input, but no responses were received prior to publication.
The foundation released its mandate in March, outlining its function in Ethereum's current and future development trajectory. The document emphasized censorship resistance, open-source code, privacy and security, and indicated that the organization would concentrate on protocol upgrades, research and developer tools.