Google settles with engineers who said they were fired for trying to organize

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The company settled with six engineers over the claims that they squash employees' efforts to organize. The details of the settlement remain under a non-disclosure agreement, but four of the workers who were fired out of retaliation for their labor activism will not be reinstated, while one still remains employed by the tech giant.

Four employees filed labor charges against the company after they were fired for violating data security policies. Prior to their firing, they fought against some of the ethically questionable choices of the company, including its work with the Customs and Border Protection. A settlement was reached last year.

The pop-up would appear when employees viewed the website. Spiers was fired for not getting proper approval for the code she used to create the notification.

It took over 2 years of fighting. Over 2 years of living in a near-constant hell.



But, it is finally over.



Fighting for workers' rights is hard, it hurts, but seeing the impact that we have helped make in the Labor Organizing movement is worth it. https://t.co/MWuX3zqbs4

— Rebecca Rivers (@Tri_Becca90) March 21, 2022

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint against the company in 2020, claiming that it illegally spied on Berland and Spiers before firing them. Over the course of the two-year-long legal battle, the National Labor Relations Board uncovered a secret union-busting initiative by the tech giant. The court ordered the company to hand over more internal documents that they tried to hide.

It took over two years to fight. Over 2 years of living in a hell. It hurts, but seeing the impact that we have helped make in the Labor Organizing movement is worth it.

Waldman, Rivers, and Duke filed a lawsuit against the company because they said they were contractually obligated to follow the company's policy. According to The New York Times, this lawsuit was dropped as part of the settlement.

I'm very proud of what my clients accomplished, they fought aggressively and succeeded in exposing the plan which was orchestrated at the highest level of internal management.

It wasn't immediately apparent whether or not Google would reply to The Verge's request for comment.