Google CEO Sends Memo Discussing 48 Fired Employees over Sexual Misconduct

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A New York Times exposé that was recently published has said that Google protected a handful of top executives from sexual misconduct allegations. Included in this hand was Andy Rubin, the Android creator who had received a $90 million exit package.

The report also discussed two other top Google executives that escaped punishment and were compensated or promoted.

A spokesman for Rubin denied that he had engaged in any misconduct, saying that “any relationship that Mr. Rubin had while at Google was consensual and did not involve any person who reported directly to him.”

Google’s CEO Sundiar Pichai and Eileen Naughton, Google’s vice president of people operations, sent an e-mail to employees that was obtained by CNBC regarding the New York Times story. It reads as follows:

Hi everyone,

Today’s story in the New York Times was difficult to read.

We are dead serious about making sure we provide a safe and inclusive workplace. We want to assure you that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and we take action.

In recent years, we’ve made a number of changes, including taking an increasingly hard line on inappropriate conduct by people in positions of authority: in the last two years, 48 people have been terminated for sexual harassment, including 13 who were senior managers and above. None of these individuals received an exit package.
In 2015, we launched Respect@ and our annual Internal Investigations Report to provide transparency about these types of investigations at Google. Because we know that reporting harassment can be traumatic, we provide confidential channels to share any inappropriate behavior you experience or see. We support and respect those who have spoken out. You can find many ways to do this at go/saysomething. You can make a report anonymously if you wish.

We’ve also updated our policy to require all VPs and SVPs to disclose any relationship with a co-worker regardless of reporting line or presence of conflict.

We are committed to ensuring that Google is a workplace where you can feel safe to do your best work, and where there are serious consequences for anyone who behaves inappropriately.

Sundar and Eileen

Disclaimer: We have no position in Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ: GOOGL) have not been compensated for this article.