Google paid $ 35 million to its former leader after he was charged with sexual misconduct



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SAN FRANCISCO – Google paid former researcher Amit Singhal $ 35 million, while he was reportedly forced to resign following 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 and reputational risks. 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.

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

Part of the minutes showed that Singhal, executive vice president of research, who had left the company in 2016, had 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 a victim of an investigation in the New York Times that had revealed that Google had paid $ 90 million to the creator of Android Rubin, as part of a severance pay. 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 claimed that Singhal had harassed her at an off-campus event. A Google survey revealed its credible claims, according to the Times.

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 there were "serious consequences for anyone behaving inappropriately at Google".

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

The company was pressured to make changes following actions by its employees last year. After the announcement of Rubin's huge pay, tens of thousands of Google employees worldwide quit work in November to protest the company's handling of sexual misconduct complaints.

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 had received stock compensation of $ 150 million shortly before he left the company. society. The lawsuit alleges that Alphabet CEO Larry Page granted the grants and only later received approval from the board.

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