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Google’s actions in efforts to organize the workplace, including the high-profile layoffs of several employees, were unlawful violations of the national labor relations law, federal regulators said this week.
The National Labor Relations Board filed a formal complaint (PDF) against Google on Wednesday, alleging that the company had “interfered with, restricted and coerced employees” to interfere with their protected concerted activity – work organization rights protected by the law.
Google laid off several different employees late last year amid apparent efforts to organize the company’s employees. Four former employees who were laid off last November – Laurence Berland, Paul Duke, Rebecca Rivers and Sophie Waldman – filed complaints with the NLRB almost exactly a year ago, alleging that Google’s “draconian, pernicious and illegal behavior “was an illegal attempt to prevent the organization of the workplace.
Weeks later, another former Google employee, Kathryn Spiers, was fired after developing a tool for the company’s internal version of Chrome that notified Google employees of their legal rights to organize. Spiers also filed a complaint with the NLRB, claiming Google’s retaliation against her was illegal.
At the time, Google alleged that Rivers, Berland and others were fired for “intentional and often repeated breaches of our long-standing data security policies.” However, according to the NLRB file, Google implemented several of the rules that employees allegedly violated in response to employee organizing efforts, and those rules were designed to “discourage employees from training, joining, [or] help a union. The company also illegally monitored the protected activities of employees by watching an employee slide in support of a union campaign, as well as by asking employees about the protected activities.
“Google’s hiring of IRIs is an unambiguous statement that management will no longer tolerate organizing workers,” Berland said in a statement, referring to Google calling on the infamous anti-union company as consultants at the end of 2019. “Management and its counter-union henchmen wanted to send this message, and the NLRB is now sending its own message: the workers’ organization is protected by law.”
Google issued a statement supporting its actions, again blaming former employees squarely. “Google has always worked to support a culture of internal discussion and we have immense trust in our employees,” said a spokesperson for the company. “Employees have protected labor rights which we strongly support, but we have always taken information security very seriously. We are confident in our decision and our legal position. The actions taken by the employees in question constituted a serious violation of our policies and an unacceptable violation of a trust responsibility. “
Not the first time
In terms of process, the NLRB complaint is somewhat similar to a trial in a civil court or an indictment in a criminal court. From there, Google and the regulator settle the case, or it goes to an internal trial before one of the administrative judges of the NLRB. The complaint sets a hearing date for April 12 of next year, in person or by video conference, if there is no settlement at that time.
Tensions between Google and its employees have been high for several years. In 2018, thousands of employees staged a strike to protest Google’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against senior executives. Two employees who helped organize the 2018 mass walkout, Meredith Whittaker and Claire Stapleton, said in 2019 they were facing retaliation from their employer. The two left the company that summer.
This isn’t Google’s first entanglement with the NLRB, either. In 2019, the company and the regulator came to an agreement after a previous complaint. That regulation required Google to explain to employees their rights under federal labor law and to tell employees that they would not face retaliation for exercising those rights.
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