Home Virtual Reality Google parent Alphabet settles shareholder lawsuit over sexual misconduct claims – CNET

Google parent Alphabet settles shareholder lawsuit over sexual misconduct claims – CNET

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Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. 


Stephen Shankland/CNET

Google’s parent company Alphabet has settled a shareholder lawsuit over the company’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations.

As part of the settlement, announced Friday, Alphabet will commit $310 million to corporate diversity initiatives, as well as form an advisory board dedicated to diversity and equality issues. The board will include CEO Sundar Pichai as well as outside experts. 

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“The settlement fundamentally alters Alphabet’s workplace policies,” said Julie Goldsmith Reiser, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, one of the firms representing Alphabet shareholders. “These changes, along with the financial commitment to DEI initiatives, position Alphabet to lead as much in workplace equity as it is does in technology and innovation.”

The lawsuit stemmed from sexual misconduct allegations reported two years ago against Andy Rubin, creator of Google’s Android mobile operating system. In the face of those claims, Alphabet’s board reportedly granted him a $90 million exit package. The reports caused shockwaves inside Google, leading to a historic walkout in which more than 20,000 employees marched out of their offices around the world. 

The settlement also says Google would no longer be able to force employees into mandatory arbitration for discrimination and retaliation-related disputes, a demand activists inside Google pushed for when they organized the walkout. Google will also be more limited in its use of non-disclosure agreements. 

As part of the changes, Google will also prohibit executives from receiving severance if they are fired for misconduct of any kind, Eileen Naughton, the company’s human resources chief, said in a blog post Friday. 

“Over the past several years, we have been taking a harder line on inappropriate conduct, and have worked to provide better support to the people who report it,” she wrote. “Protecting our workplace and culture means getting both of these things right, and in recent years we’ve worked hard to set and uphold higher standards for the whole company.”

In addition to Pichai, Google executives on the new diversity council will include Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker, Chief Diversity Officer Melonie Parker, and and Senior Vice President Jen Fitzpatrick. Outside members will include Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge and Harvard Law School lecturer, and Fred Alvarez, a former member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

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