The San Francisco Bay Area is the proud home of many of the country’s largest Internet corporations, including Facebook, Twitter and of course Google. Many of these corporations, especially Google, boast incredibly positive work environments and impressive employee satisfaction. However, even the most high-profile businesses are not immune to the employee rights issues that many workers across America face. In fact, according to one former Google employee, some supervisors were engaging in sexual harassment.
A former software engineer at Google, who has previously written articles discussing sexism in the technology business, has taken to Twitter to discuss sexual harassment she allegedly suffered during her four years at Google. She specifically mentions two supervisors: an engineering director and a former vice president of engineering. She claims that the engineering director once said that he was struggling to refrain from groping her.
The former employee cited a specific example in which she threw a drink on her harasser and was subsequently written up. She claims not only that Google did nothing to investigate or stop the harassment, but that they instead reprimanded her. Thus far, Google has made no comment about the allegations. When the engineering director in question was interviewed about the allegations, he claimed that he did not have much contact with the woman and hung up the phone, citing a need to check with Google before speaking with the press.
It is no small feat to accuse a company like Google?which is constantly praised as being at the forefront of employee wellness and satisfaction?of sexual harassment. It may be months before we get an official word about the allegations, and longer still before they are resolved one way or another, but the allegations are still noteworthy. Remember that sexual harassment can happen at any company, and it is never OK.
Source: NBC Bay Area, “Ex-Googler Alleges Sexual Harassment at Google,” Barbara E. Hernandez, March 9, 2015