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Google Workers Set to Walk Out Today Over Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Google Executive


Today, over 200 engineers at Google are set to walk out after it was announced that the company apparently shielded and paid out $90 million to Andy Rubin, creator of Android mobile software, after sexual misconduct allegations against him became known.  

This walk out comes on the heels of allegations that Rubin had been involved in sexual misconduct with a Google employee.  After the company investigated the claims and found them to be credible, Rubin was asked for his resignation.  Rather than terminating Rubin (and potentially paying him very little upon his exit), Google instead gave him a $90 million exit package.  Once this information became more well known among Google employees, a meeting was held last week in an effort to address concerns about what Google did (or rather did not) do in regard to Rubin.  Following last week's meeting, an internal forum posting that suggested employees organize a walkout began to gain steam.

Now of course there is still much that is not known about the situation with Rubin (or a few other Google executives that had been accused over the past decade of having engaged in sexual misconduct).  However, at a minimum, once this information became more well known among the company's employees, a narrative (fair or not) began to form that the company protected executives accused of sexual misconduct, to the detriment of the sexual misconduct victims and others at the company.  While it is commendable that Google attempted to address the situation head on with its meeting last week, it appears that was too little too late.

Employers would be wise to continue to follow how this plays out in an effort to glean some insight on what to do (or not do) if ever confronted with a similar situation.


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