A group of four former Google employees who were recently fired plan to file labor charges against the company, accusing the search giant of retaliating against legally protected organizing activity.
The four claim that Google fired them, in part, to send a message to other employees not to take part in labor organizing. “It’s about trying to stop all workplace organizing,” their letter states.
Google previously claimed that the former employees had “clear and repeated violations” of data security policies including conducting “systematic searches” for employees’ materials. They allegedly shared that info beyond the scope of their jobs and set notifications for what people were doing when, like attending medical appointments.
Google has repeatedly said that it fired the employees for accessing information beyond what they needed to do their jobs, and that it was not retaliating against worker organizing.
“We dismissed four individuals who were engaged in intentional and often repeated violations of our longstanding data security policies, including systematically accessing and disseminating other employees’ materials and work,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “No one has been dismissed for raising concerns or debating the company’s activities.”
The workers say anything they accessed was widely available, and that there was no rule against accessing it. As two of the workers, Rivers and Berland, were first placed on leave at the company, employees held a rally to voice support for them.
This firing and the charges are just the latest in escalating tension at Google. Dozens of employees have claimed they faced retaliation after reporting workplace issues. They’ve held sit-ins to raise awareness for Google’s alleged “retaliation culture,” and as many as 20,000 employees have participated in walkouts.
Google claims it has made it easier to report harassment. It has also issued reminders that Googlers are responsible for their words and will be held accountable for them, warned employees against protesting the company at San Francisco Pride, scaled back town hall meetings and hired an anti-union consultancy.
