Google to End Forced Arbitration for Sexual-Harassment Claims--Update
November 08 2018 - 1:44PM
Dow Jones News
By Douglas MacMillan
Google said it will end its requirement for employee
sexual-harassment claims to be handled in private arbitration, a
move that comes one week after thousands of workers walked out of
the company's offices around the world to protest its handling of
workplace issues.
In a memo on Thursday, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told staff
that Google will also include more granular details about
sexual-harassment claims in regular reports and provide more
services to employees who raise concerns, including counseling and
career support.
The Alphabet Inc. unit is contending with a rising tide of
activist employees who are organizing to demand changes in the way
the company conducts business. The internet giant said earlier this
year it would not renew a contract supporting the U.S. Defense
Department's drone-targeting program after hundreds of Google
workers signed a petition questioning the ethics of the
project.
The company hasn't backed down from its exploration of a
censored search engine for Chinese users, another source of
employee frustration.
The policy change for harassment claims is a victory for the
organizers of the world-wide walkout, in which employees huddled
outside of Google offices from Singapore to San Francisco chanting
"Time's Up!" and holding signs that said "Worker's rights are
women's rights."
The protest organizers published a letter demanding five
changes, including an end to forced arbitration, a revised process
for handling sexual-harassment claims and greater transparency
around the reports. In its changes Thursday, Google didn't address
two demands: that the company commit to end pay inequity for women
and minorities; and that the company's chief diversity officer
report directly to the CEO.
Representatives of the group organizing the walkout didn't
respond to requests for comment.
The protest came together after the New York Times reported that
Google protected three senior executives over the past decade after
they were accused of sexual misconduct, including one who received
a $90 million exit package in 2014. Google declined to comment on
details in the Times story.
Google follows tech peers like Microsoft Corp. and Uber
Technologies Inc. in opting to end forced arbitration, a widespread
but controversial practice that prevents U.S. workers from suing
their employers in open court. Companies prefer arbitration for
sexual-harassment claims because it tends to lead to quicker
settlements at a lower cost than class-action suits and may spare
companies from bad publicity.
The percentage of nonunion, private-sector employees covered by
the mandatory-arbitration clauses has more than doubled since the
early 2000s, according to a 2017 study by a Cornell University
professor and sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, a
left-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C.
An analysis by The Wall Street Journal earlier this year found
that a small number of sexual-harassment claims actually reach
arbitration.
In many cases, workers drop the claims because they can't get
lawyers to take their cases. Plaintiffs' lawyers say they are
reluctant to represent arbitration clients on contingency fees
because potential settlement and award payouts are generally lower
than in court.
In an announcement outlining its policy changes, Google said it
had discovered that alcohol was a factor in about 1-in-5 harassment
complaints. The company said it will encourage senior executives to
restrict excessive drinking at company events.
The company also said it would dock the performance ratings of
any employee who doesn't complete sexual-harassment training,
including senior leaders.
Write to Douglas MacMillan at douglas.macmillan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 08, 2018 13:29 ET (18:29 GMT)
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