According to news reports, a transgender man who previously worked for Google is suing the company for wrongful termination and retaliation. The man filed his lawsuit on Feb. 21 in San Francisco County Superior Court.
The man alleged that Google terminated him in November 2017 after he had worked for the company for a little more than two years. He had reportedly responded to posts on the company’s internal social media platform that he felt were sexist or racist. According to court documents, the man’s manager told him that he was engaging in excessive social activism.
One of the former employee’s lawyers stated that Google failed to implement better controls over its internal social media platform, resulting in the man’s termination. The plaintiff was one of 13 Google employees who were targeted by alt-right posters after another Google employee, who infamously wrote a memo about women not being qualified to work in computer science jobs, was fired. The man is seeking damages for his lost wages and emotional distress as well as punitive damages and injunctive remedies.
When companies retaliate against workers for complaining about workplace discrimination or harassment, the workers who complained may have grounds to file claims for wrongful termination and retaliation against their employers. People who believe that they were wrongfully terminated in retaliation for complaining about workplace discrimination or harassment may want to get help from experienced employment lawyers. Attorneys may analyze what happened and assess whether or not the workers have grounds to file claims. If they do, the attorneys may then help to file the complaints and work to recover damages for their clients.
Source: The Verge, “Former Google employee files lawsuit alleging the company fired him over pro-diversity posts,” Shannon Liao, Feb. 21, 2018.
