An engineer from Google claims to have been the object of foot fetish from a male colleague

An engineer at Google wrote in a Medium article that the company's reporting system for work-related issues had discouraged her from filing a complaint for the disturbing obsession of a co-worker, eventually leading him to seek psychiatric help, another example of the technology giant's fight adequately dealing with inappropriate internal behaviors.

Lea Coligado – a Google Maps engineer who identifies herself as Filipino – said that "the white man of about fifty years old" had already risen for the first time one night during a three hour commute to return home aboard one of the company's shuttles.

"I thought, there's no way this guy looks at me for so long!" Coligado wrote. "But adhering to rigorous tests, I moved my foot to gauge her reaction, and all her head moved with her."

Coligado's odd tale is written in a sardonic style, full of curses and puns ("no one seemed to care that his SOLE lens was at my feet"), but his message highlights a serious problem at Google. In the same week that Coligado's Medium magazine recounted its experience, Google announced the creation of a new internal web portal designed to make it easier for employees to report harbadment.

Coligado wrote that, according to Google's reporting system for work-related problems, pursuing an investigation would probably have revealed his identity, which would leave him exposed to human retaliation. While she was considering taking formal steps, the man tried several times to get closer to her, including sitting by her side in the cafeteria and even sitting there. installing in the same building where she worked.

Google has not taken any action against the potential case of criminal harbadment, she said, as she has never filed a formal complaint. In the end, Coligado said that his mental health had deteriorated, as had his performance at work.

Coligado said her story about the "football guy" was the first part of an upcoming series of articles that she was calling, "The Chronicles of the Codonist."

"Each piece is dedicated to a man who has harbaded or harbaded me, or who has made me feel uncomfortable here," wrote Coligado. "I have reported three men badually harbaded during my two years at Google! Can I get a" Hell yeah! "for more content?!?!"

Google did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request to comment on the case.

On Thursday, as pressure increased to address employee-related incidents, Google announced the creation of a new internal portal for employees to report issues such as harbadment, discrimination and reprisals. A Google spokesman told Business Insider Thursday that employees said the previous methods of reporting workplace issues were complex and opaque.

Read more: Google has launched a new internal portal to help employees report issues in their workplace, and hopes the number of reports will increase accordingly.

Last November, 20,000 Google employees around the world protested the company's handling of high-profile badual behavior.