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Lawsuit: Google employees were fired for upholding “Don’t be evil” code:
Three former Google software engineers who sued the company yesterday claim they were fired for following Google's famous "Don't be evil" mantra.
"Google terminated each plaintiffs' employment with it for adhering to the directive 'Don't be evil' and calling out activity by Google that they each believed betrayed that directive," according to the complaint filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court by Rebecca Rivers, Sophie Waldman, and Paul Duke. The ex-employees say Google falsely blamed them for a data leak after they circulated an internal petition.
The lawsuit notes that the Google Code of Conduct "that each full-time Google employee is required to sign as a condition of employment" specifically instructs them not to be evil. The ex-employees say they tried to uphold the "Don't be evil" policy in August 2019 by circulating a petition "requesting that Google affirm that it would not collaborate with CBP [US Customs and Border Protection] or ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] with respect to enforcement of the Trump border control policies."
"[E]ach plaintiff protested Google's engagement in supporting BCP policies that resulted in separation of families and 'caging' of immigrants who were seeking asylum in the United States," the complaint said.
Google's firings of Rivers, Waldman, and Duke are also part of an ongoing case in which the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Google.
Previously:
(2018-10-13) Google Leak: The Good Censor
(2018-09-14) "Senior Google Scientist" Resigns over Chinese Search Engine Censorship Project
(2018-05-19) "Don't be Evil" Disappearing From Google's Code of Conduct
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @01:33PM (1 child)
I'm not sure who is right, either morally or legally.
Most of the "moral" opposition is actually about the wrong political party being in power and has nothing to do with the actual actions being taken. Was Google even involved?
But in a situation where the company has asked all employees to consider the morality of the company's actions, they should not be fired for doing exactly that.
In the end, I expect that "don't be evil" will be held to be unenforceably vague under the rules of contract law, and the firings will be upheld. But it's interesting, anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @06:06PM
Government contracts are worth a shitload of money, whichever side of politics is in power.
Rightly or wrongly, half the country elected Trump as their Emperor/Demi-god for 4 years; any wonder any republican voters within the company told them to STFU? 'Evil' in the context of a presidential decree would never be upheld in a court within that jurisdiction, at least while that politician is in office.
Leaking an internal discussion would have you fired in most companies. Whether that's grounds for wrongful termination under whistleblower protections is another matter but I suspect the trio will have difficulty finding work at a number of large, $EVIL corporations.