A San Francisco-based news startup, UploadVR, has been sued by a former employee, who alleged a long list of inappropriate behavior at the workplace, including gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

The case comes at a time when a number of high profile examples of gender discrimination and inappropriate behavior among Silicon Valley tech firms have been in the news. Notably, earlier this year, an ex-Uber engineer sued her former employer over allegations of sexual harassment.

The UploadVR lawsuit, which was first reported Monday by TechCrunch , was filed by Elizabeth Scott, the company’s ex-head of social media. According to LinkedIn, Scott worked at the company from April 2016 until March 2017. Scott claims that numerous male employees, including Will Mason, the company’s president, and Taylor Freeman, the company’s CEO, openly and regularly discussed their own state of sexual arousal due to the presence of their female colleagues, "and how it was hard to concentrate and be productive when all they could think about was having sex with them."

She also specifically cited the behavior of the company’s expansion manager, claiming that he would frequently comment that he "had a boner" and then had to go to the restroom to "rub one out."

The civil complaint, which was filed earlier this month in county court in San Francisco, continues:

UploadVR even set up a room to encourage sexual intercourse at the workplace. The room was referred to as the "kink room" and contained a bed. Male employees used that room to have sexual intercourse, which was disruptive and inappropriate. Often, underwear and condom wrappers would be found in the room. … While at UploadVR, Defendants required Plaintiff and the other female employees to do what they believed were "womanly tasks." These tasks included cleaning the kitchen, organizing the refrigerator, and tidying up the work space. The female employees were also required to clean up after parties. This included whatever condoms or underwear might be left behind. Female employees were called in on their days off to clean up following parties to which they had not even been invited.

According to the lawsuit, when Scott complained about this behavior by her co-workers, she eventually was fired.

“Men are often ‘great guys’ to other men”

When Ars e-mailed Mason and Freeman for comment, we received back the same statement sent to other media outlets. "We cannot comment directly on pending litigation." A spokesperson added that "these allegations are entirely without merit."

Robert Scoble, a longtime tech evangelist and blogger, who was UploadVR’s "entrepreneur-in-residence," wrote publicly on Facebook that while he had attended company parties before, he was unaware of any behavior similar to what was alleged in the lawsuit.

"The allegations in the lawsuit are shocking and don’t match the personal character of cofounders Will Mason or Taylor Freeman that I’ve witnessed," he wrote.

In that thread, some chimed in to say that Mason and Freeman were "great guys," and that they doubted Scott’s claims. But some women stepped forward to provide an important counterpoint.

"Here's the thing you're missing," wrote Hillary Mason, CEO of Fast Forward Labs. "Men are often ‘great guys’ to other men. Then total dicks to (some) women. When those women speak up, which is a very very painful thing to do, guys like you stand up and say, essentially, ‘I don't believe you because these guys were always nice to me.’ Of course they were nice to you. You're a guy. You need to take a moment to think about what this person is going through, and give her the benefit of the doubt."

To which Scoble replied: "Good point."