11-06-2018
A New York Times (NYT) article about sexual harassment at Google has triggered a mass email from the Google executive suite and a Google employee walkout at dozens of its offices.In the article, the New York Times highlighted a major payout to a senior executive accused of sexual harassment. Andy Rubin reportedly received $90 million to leave the company. The New York Times indicated that Google did not have to pay these types of sums, protected several high-placed individuals from allegations, and that one such male executive is still employed by the tech company. When the General Counsel had an affair with someone from his department and Google found out, the woman had to leave the department. She left the company a year later and was asked to sign documents reflecting her voluntary exit. He has remained at the company.
Google’s company-wide memorandum from its CEO notified employees that 48 individuals have been fired from the company over the last two years for sexual harassment. These 48 employees included 13 senior managers. Google has claimed that none of those managers received any exit packages offering monetary benefits. The email was intended to counter the NYT article and prove to employees that the company takes allegations of sexual harassment very seriously.
Female employees, in particular, responded to the article by organizing a massive walkout across Google. It was intended to protest the company’s systemic handling of sexual harassment and discrimination. They presented a list of five demands to the company including more transparency, a chief diversity officer, and an employee representative on the company’s board of directors.