Google violated labor law in retaliation against workers, federal agency says

A federal agency claimed Wednesday that Google violated U.S. labor laws by monitoring, questioning and firing employees who staged protests against the search giant, according to a complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board.

The filing concerns the layoffs of Laurence Berland and Kathryn Spiers, who were fired by the search giant last year after the company said it violated internal policies. The NLRB complaint, however, alleges that some of these policies are illegal and that Google illegally questioned its employees about “protected concerted activities.”

Google on Wednesday defended the action taken against the employees. “We strongly support the rights of our employees in the workplace, and open discussion and respectful debate have always been part of Google,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “We are proud of our culture and are committed to defending it against attempts by individuals to deliberately undermine it, including by violating internal security policies and systems.

Google has until December 16 to respond to the NLRB complaint. If the two sides cannot reach a settlement, the case is expected to be heard by an agency judge on April 12.

The complaint comes after a tumultuous period at the search giant, which has faced uprisings in its workforce in recent years. Grassroots workers have spoken out against the company’s work in China, its contracts with the U.S. military and Google’s handling of allegations of sexual misconduct against senior executives.

Berland and Spiers both staged protests at Google, including an employee response to the company hiring of IRI consultants, a company known for its anti-union efforts. Google fired Berland last year for accessing documents and calendar information outside of work. Berland said he did not break any rules when reviewing the information.

The NLRB said in its complaint that the calendar access policy is illegal.

“Google’s hiring of IRIs is a clear statement that management will no longer tolerate worker organization,” Berland said in a statement. “Management and its cronies wanted to send this message, and the NLRB is now sending its own message: unionization of workers is protected by law.”

Spiers was fired after creating a pop-up notification that appeared whenever Google employees visited the IRI website from a company computer. The opinion describes workers’ rights to organize. The NLRB alleges that Google violated labor law for punishing workers involved in creating the pop-up.

The NLRB, however, rejected other allegations against Google for unfair dismissal. Laurie Burgess, lawyer for the dismissed Google employees, said they “are vigorously appealing the dismissed charges.”

After Google suspended Berland and other Google employees last year, around 200 Google employees and other supporters staged a rally outside one of Google’s offices in San Francisco. Activists at the rally alleged that Google management was retaliating against employees for speaking out against the search giant.