Google is settling accounts with engineers who say they were fired for trying to organize

Google has settled with six engineers over allegations the company stifled employees’ efforts to organize, first reported by motherboard. The details of the settlement remain under a nondisclosure agreement, but four of the workers who were allegedly fired in retaliation for her labor activism will not be rehired in 2019 while one remains employed by the tech giant.

Four employees, Rebecca Rivers, Laurence Berland, Paul Duke and Sophie Waldman, filed a labor lawsuit against Google in 2019 after the company said they were fired for violating their privacy policies. Prior to their termination, they protested against some of Google’s unethical decisions, including his work with the Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP), despite the agency’s treatment of immigrants and enforcement of family separation policies. Berland reached an agreement with Google last year.

Another employee, Kathryn Spiers, did it fired shortly after for creating internal pop-ups, and said, “Googlers have the right to participate in protected concerted activities.” The pop-up appeared when employees visited Google’s internal employee policies or the website of IRI Consultants, an anti-union firm hired by Google. According to Google, Spiers was fired for failing to get proper approval for the code she used to create the notification.

In 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint against Google, making claims against the company illegally spied on Berland and Spiers before firing themand said that Google “arguably violated” labor laws by firing Waldman, Rivers and Duke. The NLRB took the tech giant to court last year, and over the course of the two-year legal battle, the NLRB discovered something called Project Vivian, Google’s secret anti-union initiative. In January, the court ordered Google to turn over more internal documents it was trying to conceal, citing attorney-client privileges.

“It has taken over two years of struggle. Over 2 years of living in near constant hell. But it’s finally over,” Rivers said in a tweet. “The fight for workers’ rights is hard, it hurts, but it’s worth seeing the impact we’ve made in the workers’ organizing movement.”

Last November Waldman, Rivers and Duke filed a separate lawsuit against Google, in which they explained that they were contractually bound to follow the company’s famous “don’t be evil” policy, which is why they protested Google’s contract with the CBP. That lawsuit was dropped as part of the settlement The New York Times.

“I am very proud of what my clients have achieved: They have fought aggressively – and successfully – to expose Google’s plan, orchestrated at the highest level of internal management, to suppress unionization and its employees.” from speaking out on matters that were taking place concurrently in the workplace and global company,” Laurie Burgess, the employees’ advocate, said in a statement The edge. “I am confident that the success of my client here – effectively bringing Google to its knees – will encourage other Google employees, as well as employees in other industries, to take up the baton and continue the effort to hold companies accountable for their actions.” accountable.”

Google didn’t respond immediately The edge‘s request for comment.