Google accused of spying on employees, firing them for forming a union

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A Tuesday complaint filed by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board states that Google and parent company Alphabet allegedly violated federal labor laws.
• The complaint also accused the tech company of spying on employees who viewed a union organizing presentation, interrogating others and enforcing rules that block workers from protected organizing activities.
• The latest investigation comes one year after the labor agency launched an investigation into Google’s labor practices.

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board has accused tech giant firm Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc. of allegedly violating labor laws, according to a complaint filed on Tuesday.

The NLRB case documents specifically stated that Google illegally surveilled employees and fired them afterward for supporting union efforts.

The complaint also claimed that the firm enforced rules that barred employees from sharing work grievances and information with each other via tools like calendars, emails, meeting rooms and MemeGen, the company’s internal meme-generator.

Google is expected to answer the claims by Dec. 16 and a hearing is slated for April 12, 2021, in San Francisco.

Google hasn’t responded yet to CNBC’s requests for comment.

The NLRB complaint comes a year following CNBC’s first report about the agency’s investigation into Google’s labor practices. It also comes after Google paid a $310 million settlement to an Alphabet shareholder lawsuit over claims of sexual harassment by executives there.

The latest investigation rose from employee activism over the company’s unjust treatment of its employees — Rebecca Rivers and Laurence Berland — along with two others, who were fired in November 2019 for allegedly sharing and distributing confidential documents and breaching security. The workers filed a complaint with NLRB afterwards.

Soon after that, security engineer Kathryn Spiers was fired for creating a pop-up notification reminding Google employees of their right to organize by encouraging them to visit the IRI Consultants website, a firm known for anti-union work, which Google had hired. Shortly thereafter, Spiers also filed a lawsuit with the NLRB.  

Based on Berland’s and Spiers’ cases in Tuesday’s filing, the labor agency noted that Google unlawfully spied on their employees on several occasions including an employee presentation backing union efforts.

Furthermore, the tech company has purportedly interrogated employees in its San Francisco facility about their protected concerted activities by asking them about their access to employees’ calendars and MemeGen Takedown Documents. It also cited a new Google calendar policy that discouraged employees from partaking in events involving more than 100 employees, or other concerted activities.

Source: AOL