Last November's massive walkout at Google protesting workplace sexual harassment was initially met by some support from the company's top brass. But now two employees behind the walkout claim that Google has begun to retaliate.
On Monday, the two organizers, Claire Stapleton and Meredith Whittaker, posted a letter to the company's internal mailing list, accusing the tech giant of taking the retaliatory actions, according to Wired.
Google allegedly punished Stapleton, a YouTube marketing manager, with a demotion and by pulling a project she was originally involved in. "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," she said in the letter.
"Only after I hired a lawyer and had her contact Google did management conduct an investigation and walked back my demotion, at least on paper. While my work has been restored, the environment remains hostile and I consider quitting nearly every day," Stapleton added.
The same letter claims that Google is punishing Whittaker, an AI researcher, by pressuring her to scrap her ongoing work. Whittaker was also among the employees who protested Google's appointment of a conservative thinker to a company-sponsored AI advisory board, which it dissolved earlier this month.
"Just after Google announced that it would disband its AI ethics council, I was informed my role would be changed dramatically," she said. "I'm told that to remain at the company I will have to abandon my work on AI ethics and the AI Now Institute, which I co-founded, and which has been doing rigorous and recognized work on these topics."
The letter goes on accuse Google of retaliating against "several" walkout organizers, not just Stapleton and Whittaker. "Google has a culture of retaliation, which too often works to silence women, people of color, and gender minorities," the letter adds. "Retaliation isn't always obvious. It's often confusing and drawn out, consisting of icy conversations, gaslighting, project cancellations, transition rejections, or demotions."
However, Google is denying that it ever engaged in retaliatory behavior against any employee.
"We prohibit retaliation in the workplace, and investigate all allegations. Employees and teams are regularly and commonly given new assignments, or reorganized, to keep pace with evolving business needs," a Google spokesperson said in an email. "There has been no retaliation here."
Nevertheless, both Stapleton and Whittaker plan on organizing a response. According to their letter, the two will be hosting a "Retaliation Town Hall" this Friday so that employees can share stories about any alleged retaliatory incidents at Google.