Google paid $ 35 million to former officer accused of sexual harassment

• Amit Singhal received a severance payment of $ 35 million following her departure from the company following complaints of sexual misconduct.
• Details were obtained following a lawsuit against the company and several of its directors.
• The lawsuit alleges that the by-law opens the company to reputational and financial damage.

Google paid $ 35 million to former research chief Amit Singhal, who was reportedly forced to resign as a result of a sexual assault investigation, according to court documents released Monday.

The details of the release package were revealed as part of a lawsuit against the company, which followed a report on Google's payments to executives accused of sexual behavior.

The lawsuit targets the board of Google's parent company, Alphabet, accusing its members of protecting the company and its shareholders from reputational risk and damage. Instead, the board has agreed to pay and otherwise support the male executives being prosecuted for misconduct, thereby opening the company to reputation and financial harm.

The lawsuit stated that the action had been brought "against certain executives and executives of Alphabet, the parent company of Google LLC (" Google "), for their active and direct involvement in a multi-year ploy to conceal the sexual harassment and discrimination at Alphabet. "

Quotes from the council

Portions of the suit previously redacted were made available on Monday, including quotes from Alphabet board committee meetings.

Part of the minutes shows that Singhal, senior vice president of research, who left the company in 2016, received two payments of $ 15 million and a payment of $ 5 to $ 15 million in the framework of a separation agreement. The total payment could have reached $ 45 million.

Last year, Singhal had been the subject of an investigation in the New York Times, revealing that Google had paid 90 million dollars to the creator of Android Rubin in a severance pay, after finding that allegations of sexual assault against him were credible. Rubin denied the claims.

Singhal also denied the allegations against him, claiming in a statement to the AP in 2017 that he had never been accused of harassment and that he had left Google on his own terms . Singhal did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.

But the New York Times, citing three people informed of the incident, reported that an employee had said that Singhal had harassed her at an off-campus event. A Google survey revealed its credible claims, according to the Times.

A short stint at Uber

Earlier, the Times reported that Singhal had been paid "millions" in an exit package. Singhal then joined Uber, but left after just five weeks. According to some information, he had not told Uber that he had left Google because of an allegation of sexual harassment.

On Monday, Google acknowledged the unredacted claims in the lawsuit and said in a statement that "all people who behave inappropriately at Google have serious consequences."

"In recent years, we have made many changes to our workplace and adopted an increasingly firm line of conduct regarding the inappropriate conduct of people in positions of authority," the company said. an email.

The company was pressured to make changes following actions by its employees last year. After the massive Rubin payment announcement, tens of thousands of Google workers around the world got out of work in November to protest the society's handling of complaints of sexual misconduct.

Google has promised to show more strength in dealing with such cases and has ended mandatory arbitration in case of sexual misconduct.

But the reaction continued. The organizers of Google Walkout continue to fight against specific requests and top engineers have left the company.

Last month, Google ended the mandatory arbitration of all employee complaints in response to pressure from the Walkout organizers.

The lawsuit, filed by shareholder James Martin, also refers to the board minutes and e-mails that show Rubin received $ 150 million of stock-based compensation shortly before leaving the company. society. The lawsuit alleges that Alphabet CEO Larry Page granted the grants and only later received approval from the board of directors.

"[T]The minutes of the Board of Directors and related e-mails produced by Google clearly indicate that Larry Page made the decision to approve the $ 150 million equity awards directly, on his own, without prior approval. of the Council, nor the participation of it, "says the prosecution.