Google Fires Four Employee Activists Amid Internal Protests
Google terminates four workers for allegedly accessing and sharing sensitive information outside their job scope. The fired employees claim the dismissals are retaliation for their internal activism.
Google fires four employees after an investigation by the company's Security and Investigations Team finds they share sensitive business information outside their job scope. A memo to staffers clarifies that these individuals are not terminated for ordinary work activities, but rather for conducting systematic searches of other employees' materials and distributing that data.
The terminated workers include known employee activists Rebecca Rivers and Laurence Berland, who recently face sudden administrative leave. Prior to their firing, approximately 200 Google workers hold a rally in San Francisco to demand the reinstatement of Rivers and Berland, arguing that the company targets them in retaliation for their outspoken activism.
At the protest, Berland accuses the global investigations team of conducting a grueling two-and-a-half-hour interrogation without allowing representation or bathroom breaks, while Rivers reports that her personal data disappears when company officials take her work devices. Google confirms the terminations but declines to comment further on the specific identities of the individuals involved.