#MeToo at Google too: 48 Employees fired in last 2 years

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai who is an Indian, sought to reassure employees of the internet giant after a newspaper report said a former top executive was paid millions of dollars when he left following allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct.

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In the past two years, 48 people have been terminated for sexual harassment, including 13 who were senior managers and above, Pichai and Eileen Naughton, vice president of people operations, wrote in an email to staff. None of these individuals received an exit package, they added. A Google spokeswoman sent a copy of the email to Bloomberg.

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A spokesman for Mr Rubin denied the allegations, the newspaper said. Sam Singer said Mr Rubin decided to leave Google in 2014 to launch a venture capital firm and technology incubator called Playground.

He was given what the paper described as a “hero’s farewell” when he departed. Mr Pichai’s letter said the New York Times story was “difficult to read” and that Google was “dead serious” about providing a “safe and inclusive workplace”.

“We want to assure you that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and we take action,” he continued.

Two unnamed Google executives said then-chief executive Larry Page asked Mr Rubin to resign after the company confirmed a complaint by a female employee about a sexual encounter in a hotel room in 2013.

Rubin’s representative, Sam Singer, told Bloomberg that Rubin left of his own accord in 2014. “He did not engage, nor has he ever been told of any misconduct at Google or anywhere else,” Singer wrote in an emailed statement. “Any relationship that Mr. Rubin had while at Google was consensual and did not involve any person who reported directly to him. He did have a consensual relationship that occurred in 2012. To his knowledge, at that time there were no policies in place that prohibited relationships between employees.”

Google has updated its policy to require all vice presidents and senior vice presidents to disclose any relationship with a co-worker regardless of reporting line or presence of conflict, Pichai and Naughton wrote on Thursday.