Google under fire for firing gay, trans activists

Three former employees are suing Google after the internet giant allegedly fired them under false pretenses, Bloomberg reports.  

Rebecca Rivers, Sophie Waldman and Paul Duke claim they were terminated after being falsely accused of leaking information to the media after expressing concerns surrounding a proposal to work with the Trump administration’s border security agencies.

The three allege that in opposing Google’s plans to work with agencies in charge of processing unaccompanied migrant children, they were adhering to Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” mandate.

“Google decided to start punishing employees for fulfilling their contractual commitment to ‘call out’ conduct they believed to be inhumane or ‘evil,’” they said in the complaint.

They further allege that Google violated state discrimination law by firing them. Of the five employees who were terminated over the border plan, three are trans and one is gay.  

But this isn’t the first time the firing of Rivers, Waldman and Duke has brought Google under public scrutiny. The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Google earlier this year for what it describes as retaliation against activism.

The complaint accuses the Alphabet Inc. unit of violating a law that protects employees’ right to engage in collective action surrounding workplace issues, including non-union workers like Google’s. According to the regional director, Google broke the law by questioning and terminating employees because of their activism.

Presently, a judge is considering those retaliation allegations in court.

But in the new lawsuit, filed on Monday in Santa Clara County, Calif., Google stands accused of violating California state law by targeting gay and trans employees for termination and breach of contract.

“Google’s conduct of targeting gay and trans employees for termination based upon their involvement in the above activities constitutes unlawful discrimination,” the former employees claim.