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Google to End Mandatory Arbitration of Sexual Harassment & Sexual Assault Claims


Today, Google announced that it would end its policy of mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment and sexual assault claims at the company.  This comes on the heels of last week's walkout by many of the company's employees that sought to bring attention to how the company has handled such complaints against company executives in the past.  Google received bad press after it became well known that the company had apparently shielded and paid out $90 million to a company executive after sexual misconduct allegations were made against him.

In the announcement to Google employees, the company's CEO, Sundar Pichai, recognized that the company had not always gotten things right in the past.  Apologizing for some of the company's shortcomings (in this case, having previously required arbitration of the sexual misconduct allegations), Pichai wrote that in addition to no longer requiring arbitration, Google would update and expand its sexual harassment training.  As anyone in the HR field would likely tell you, proper training at the outset is a good way to mitigate potential issues down the road.

In next week's What I've Been Reading This Week post, I will take a look at a related matter that has arisen in regard to the walkout.  For the time being, this news from Google today should be viewed as a victory for the company's workers.  At least initially, a major objective has been achieved as a direct result of the walkout.



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