At one point, Elwell contends, Armstrong called her “an HR nightmare.” He then moved her to a remote cubicle with intern- level responsibility, said Elwell, who was “desperate to preserve her employment with Google.”
Elwell sought a jury trial and unspecified damages. The outcome of the case wasn’t immediately apparent in court filings, which show the case was stayed in favor of arbitration in 2007.
At AOL, the human-resources gaffes have been a distraction from Armstrong’s broader goal: transforming a dial-up online service provider into an advertising-driven Web publisher. While the acquisition of the Huffington Post and TechCrunch sites have helped fuel ad sales, his effort to create a nationwide local-news service faltered. AOL agreed last month to sell the majority of that endeavor, called Patch, to Hale Global, an investment firm that specializes in distressed businesses.