Google fired 28 employees in connection with sit-in protests at two of its offices this week, according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge. The firings come after 9 employees were suspended and then arrested in New York and California on Tuesday.
In a memo sent to all employees on Wednesday, Chris Rackow, Google’s head of global security, said that “behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it.”
He also warned that the company would take more action if needed: “The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing. If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again. The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior — up to and including termination.”
Google prides itself on making money and attracting top talent. Destructive and disruptive protests negatively impacts both. So AFAICT, they weren’t fired for the content of their speech, but the manner in which they chose to express it (i.e. disrupting business).
I doubt they wouldn’t can fired for taking time off to protest outside company property, it was likely due to their choice to damage and disrupt work in the buildings.
We all know that’s inconsistent. Let’s start with the fact that if this was just about money, Google wouldn’t be investing money on expensive like green initiatives or large donations to nonprofits.
If employees wanted to take time off to grieve for the LGBT deaths at the Pulse nightclub shooting, the company would have supported them. Would they have done the same for people grieving over dead Palestinian children, or fire them for not meeting their work requirements or ‘disrupting business’? Would Google fire employees who staged a sit-in over anti-Semitism in the workplace?
Google broke their corporate ethics by allying with a military for a lucrative contract; employees SHOULD be calling them out on it.
Google has broken their corporate ethics so many times I lost count. But that’s not what’s at issue here.
The employees here broke the law by destroying Google property. That’s why they were fired, not specifically because of their speech (though I’m sure that motivated a more aggressive response).
I totally agree that employees should be calling them out on it, but they should do so without breaking the law. Protest on public property just outside the building. Raise awareness with fellow employees who may not be aware. Write open letters. But don’t break the law, that’ll just get you fired and maybe arrested.