eBay asked a Utah federal court to move most of a former employee's whistleblower and retaliation lawsuit into private arbitration and pause the case, without addressing the underlying allegations. Paige Williams, fired in January 2024 during a reduction in force weeks after returning from disability leave, alleges she was retaliated against after flagging a systemic practice of manipulating metrics tied to eBay's Promoted Listings ad program, which she later reported to the SEC. Federal law bars forcing the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower claim into arbitration, so eBay wants that piece paused while the rest proceeds privately, a move that would keep much of the Promoted Listings dispute off the public docket as eBay leans harder on ad revenue that neared $2B in 2025.
