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SAN FRANCISCO – Google has reached an agreement on the ability of employees to report problems at their workplace after filing a complaint by a former worker.
As part of the deal with the National Labor Relations Board, Google announced, the company will post notices to remind employees of their federal rights. This includes the opportunity to talk to one another about working conditions and to ask for changes such as salary increases and safety improvements.
According to a Wall Street Journal article, the technology giant must also ensure that employees know they have the right to discuss issues with the media and with each other. Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc.,
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, Did not specify how employees can talk about issues outside the company and the NLRB has not yet made public the settlement.
Google employees are known to be among the most aggressive in the technology industry and have advocated for topics such as Equal Pay Investigations and Sexual Misconduct. Thousands of employees left their jobs last fall to protest Google's decision to take over the departure of an officer accused of sexual misconduct.
Since then, Google has told employees that it will be more forceful and transparent in investigating sexual misconduct and put an end to compulsory arbitration in all workplace disputes.
Thursday's settlement follows a complaint by a former employee, Kevin Cernekee, who said Google had violated its right to engage with other employees on workplace issues. Previously, he had been fired for expressing conservative views on the company's discussion boards. According to Google, Cernekee was fired for downloading confidential company documents on a personal device.
Cernekee's case drew national attention last month when Fox News and President Donald Trump touted his claims that Google will try to influence the 2020 election against Trump. There is no evidence that these claims are true and Google has denied them.
Google said the settlement does not mention any political activity and will not change employee guidelines, updated last month, regarding mailing lists and internal forums.
"Even if sharing information and ideas with colleagues helps to create a community, disrupting the workday by having a heated debate about politics or the latest news does not allow it", reads it's in Google's new guidelines.
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