Name: Fired Google employees alleging company broke labor laws will have day in court
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Fired Google employees alleging company broke labor laws will have day in court

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Former Google employees fired late last year for what they say was their activism at work will see their day in court.The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint Wednesday charging the company with violating federal labor law when it fired engineers Laurence Berland, Kathryn Spiers, and others.The complaint also charged the search giant with unlawfully surveilling, suspending and interrogating workers for their workplace organizing efforts. The case will now go to trial before an administrative law judge.Berland and Spiers along with their former co-workers could be reinstated with back pay and benefits if the court rules in their favor. Google can also settle the case.“Google has always worked to support a culture of internal discussion, and we place immense trust in our employees,” a Google spokesperson said in an email.“Of course employees have protected labor rights that we strongly support, but we have always taken information security very seriously. We’re confident in our decision and legal position. Actions undertaken by the employees at issue were a serious violation of our policies and an unacceptable breach of a trusted responsibility.”The company last December it had fired four employees for violating its data security policies and accessing and distributing other employees’ work.More for youThe board chose not to issue complaints on behalf of some other former Google employees who say they were fired for protesting the company’s contracts with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other issues, according to a press release on behalf of the former Google workers.“We intend to vigorously appeal the dismissed charges to the NLRB to ensure that the right to engage in this type of protected activity is not encroached upon,” said Laurie Burgess, a lawyer representing the Google workers, in a statement.Four fired engineers — Berland, Rebecca Rivers, Paul Duke and Sophie Waldman — last year about their intention to file charges over unfair labor practices.Berland and Rivers were fired after participating in a rally outside the company’s San Francisco offices last year.Berland said as part of his organizing efforts inside Google, he looked at the calendars and documents of other employees when he heard the company had been meeting with a firm, IRI Consultants, for its anti-union work.Berland said he was surprised by the extent of the contact between IRI and the company.Google suspended and eventually fired him for accessing the calendars. He said he was also interrogated by the company for three hours.The NLRB complaint charges the company with unlawfully interrogating workers along with unfairly enforcing its calendar and data access rules, among other allegations.Spiers wrote in a Medium last year that she created a web pop-up that appeared on the site of IRI Consultants that notified Google employees of their organizing rights at work. Spiers just hours later she was escorted from the building.Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutesSpiers said the legal process may right some wrongs, but cannot undo the reputational damage she has suffered.“Colleagues and strangers believe I abused my role because of lies told by Google management while they were retaliating against me,” Spiers said in an emailed statement. “The NLRB can order Google to reinstate me, but it cannot reverse the harm done to my credibility.”Google is known for its benefits and high levels of worker satisfaction, often making lists of the best places to work. Yet employee activism has roiled the company in recent years.Thousands of employees have spoken up against the company’s work with the U.S. Department of Defense, sending a to CEO Sundar Pichai in 2018.Thousands of employees and contractors also participated in that same year over the company’s handling of sexual harassment.The New York Times reported that the creator of the Android operating system, Andy Rubin, was given $90 million to leave the company after having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, which he has denied.Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Former Google employees fired late last year for what they say was their activism at work will see their day in court.The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint Wednesday charging the company with violating federal labor law when it fired engineers Laurence Berland, Kathryn Spiers, and others.The complaint also charged the search giant with unlawfully surveilling, suspending and interrogating workers for their workplace organizing efforts. The case will now go to trial before an administrative law judge.Berland and Spiers along with their former co-workers could be reinstated...

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Chase DiFeliciantonio

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Fired Google employees alleging company broke labor laws will have day in court

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