Google Walkout Organizer Quits Over Alleged Retaliation

Claire Stapleton was a co-organizer of the Google walkout, which lasted more than an hour.

By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 8 June 2019 11:13 IST

Google Walkout Organizer Quits Over Alleged Retaliation

Photo Credit: Bryan R. Smith / AFP

Claire Stapleton, who helped organize major Google walkouts in late 2018, said she was resigning

Highlights

Stapleton's team was given a "Culture Award" by Google management
Google claims it "found no evidence of retaliation" against Stapleton
Google employees had organised walkouts in November 2018

A Google worker who helped organize a massive walkout to protest the company's handling of sexual misconduct said Friday she had quit her job. In a post at Medium, Claire Stapleton said her decision to resign was based on her expecting another child but also because she was marked for retaliation by department heads after the walkout late last year.

"If I stayed, I didn't just worry that there'd be more public flogging, shunning, and stress, I expected it," Stapleton said.

"Life is extremely short and realistically we only have a couple of years left until the world hurtles into climate apocalypse or some other paroxysm of our own doing."

Google told AFP that it thoroughly investigated Stapleton's claims and found no evidence that she was targeted for retaliation in the workplace.

Stapleton's team was given a "Culture Award" by management for her role in the walkout, according to the California-based internet company.

"To reiterate, we don't tolerate retaliation," Google said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"Our employee relations team did a thorough investigation of her claims and found no evidence of retaliation."

Google employees poured out of buildings at the company's Mountain View campus in November, filling courtyards and patios in solidarity with co-workers who staged similar demonstrations at offices in countries around the world to protest the company's handling of sexual misconduct

Stapleton was a co-organizer of the walkout, which lasted more than an hour.

The protest took shape after Google said that it had fired 48 employees in the prior two years -- including 13 senior executives -- as a result of allegations of sexual misconduct, citing "an increasingly hard line" on inappropriate conduct.

One senior Google employee, Android creator Andy Rubin, was reported to have received an exit package worth $90 million as he faced allegations of misconduct. Rubin has denied the allegations and claimed he was the victim of a "smear campaign."

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