Yelp CEO Responds to Employee Fired After She Wrote a Post About Her Low Pay Talia Jane, who worked for the company's food delivery arm Eat24, wrote an open letter to Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelmann on Friday.

By Jonathan Chew

This story originally appeared on Fortune Magazine

Yelp

A Yelp employee who wrote a blistering post online about her low pay was fired, and has even got her ex-CEO responding on Twitter.

A customer-service rep named Talia Jane, who worked for the company's food delivery arm Eat24, wrote an open letter to Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelmann on Friday explaining how she could not afford to pay groceries, had stopped using her heater, spent 80 percent of her income on paying rent in San Francisco, and was "balancing all sorts of debt and trying to pave a life for myself that doesn't involve crying in the bathtub every week."

"Your employee for your food delivery app that you spent $300 million to buy can't afford to buy food. That's gotta be a little ironic, right?" she added.

Even as she posted her letter online, however, Jane seemed to understand that the repercussions of her post could involve her job.

Her premonitions proved correct, as shortly after, she was let go by Yelp for what she terms as a violation of their internal "terms of conduct."

The incident drew a series of responses from Stoppelmann, who addressed her concerns by acknowledging the high cost of living in San Francisco, while rebuffing any allegations he was the one who fired Jane.

A Yelp spokesperson told Fortune that the company would not comment on personnel matters. However, the spokesperson did echo both Jane and Stoppelmann's comments on the standard of living in San Francisco. "We agree with her remarks about the high costs of living in San Francisco, which is why we announced in December that we are expanding our Eat24 customer support team into our Phoenix office where will pay the same wage."

Want to be an BIZ Experiences Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for BIZ Experiencess to pursue in 2025.

Growing a Business

What Top Founders Know About Domains That Most BIZ Experiencess Miss

Top founders and VCs secure premium domains early to signal credibility, build trust and boost long-term brand equity and investor confidence.

Business News

Here's How Much Palantir Pays Its Top Tech Talent, From Software Engineers to AI Researchers

With stock up nearly 500% in a year, Palantir is booming. Here's how that translates into pay for its employees.

Starting a Business

I Built a $20 Million Company by Age 22 While Still in College. Here's How I Did It and What I Learned Along the Way.

Wealth-building in your early twenties isn't about playing it safe; it's about exploiting the one time in life when having nothing to lose gives you everything to gain.

Business News

75-Year-Old Billionaire Ray Dalio Just Sold His Last Shares in the Hedge-Fund Firm He Founded. Here's Why He's 'Thrilled About It.'

Dalio served in a variety of positions at Bridgewater Associates, including CEO, CIO and chairman, over decades.