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The organizers of the Google Walkout are planning a sit-in employee protest on Wednesday: 'We're sick of retaliation'

May 1, 2019, 01:50 IST

Troy Wolverton/Business Insider

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Google employees who walked out six months ago in protest of how sexual misconduct at the company was handled are now planning a sit-in.

"From being told to go on sick leave when you're not sick, to having your reports taken away, we're sick of retaliation," a tweet from the Google Walkout Twitter account said on Tuesday afternoon. "Six months ago, we walked out. This time, we're sitting in. 11am tomorrow."

Rather than a protest over how sexual misconduct allegations leveled at high-ranking Google executives like Andy Rubin were handled by the company's management, the sit-in is a protest in response to alleged retaliation against the original walkout's organizers.

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Google employees Meredith Whittaker and Claire Stapleton allege that Google demoted them in their roles, and forced them to give up some of their duties at work.

An email sent to some employees internally at Google by Whittaker and Stapleton laid out their allegations of retaliation.

"My manager started ignoring me, my work was given to other people, and I was told to go on medical leave, even though I'm not sick," Stapleton said in the email. "While my work has been restored, the environment remains hostile and I consider quitting nearly every day."

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Following a meeting among Google Walkout members, a collection of alleged instances of retaliation by Google against employees was organized and published on Medium.

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"When my manager started repeatedly saying inappropriate things about a mother who reported to me (e.g. she's probably trying to get pregnant again and is super emotional and hard to work with when pregnant) I reported the behavior to HR," one account says. "HR shared my concerns directly with my manager, who immediately started retaliating me by, among other things, immediately interviewing people to replace me. When I reported the retaliation and asked for an investigation to occur, HR acknowledged my manager's 'poor behavior' but said an investigation wasn't necessary because 'poor behavior' didn't constitute retaliation."

"We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy," a Google spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement. "To make sure that no complaint raised goes unheard at Google, we give employees multiple channels to report concerns, including anonymously, and investigate all allegations of retaliation."

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