Google employee made redundant after reporting sexual harassment, court hears

A senior Google worker has claimed she was made redundant after reporting a supervisor who informed shoppers tales about his swinger way of life and confirmed a nude of his spouse.

Victoria Woodall informed an employment tribunal she was subjected to a marketing campaign of retaliation by the corporate after whistleblowing on the person who was later sacked.

Google UK’s inside investigation discovered the supervisor had touched two feminine colleagues with out their consent, and his behaviour amounted to sexual harassment, paperwork seen by the BBC in courtroom present.

The tech big denies retaliating towards Woodall and argues she grew to become “paranoid” after whistleblowing and commenced to view regular enterprise actions as “sinister”.

In her declare, Woodall says her personal boss subjected her to a “relentless marketing campaign of retaliation” after her criticism additionally implicated his shut pals who have been later disciplined for witnessing the supervisor’s behaviour and failing to problem it.

The declare additionally included Woodall’s allegations of a “boys’ membership” tradition, together with that up till December 2022, Google had been funding a males’s solely “chairman’s lunch”.

Google mentioned an inside investigation discovered no such tradition and the occasion was ended because it was not in step with its insurance policies.

A judgement from London Central Employment Tribunal is predicted within the coming weeks.

Woodall labored as a senior trade head in Google’s UK Gross sales and Companies workforce.

In August 2022, in response to her declare, she was contacted by a feminine shopper who mentioned that, throughout a enterprise lunch, a supervisor within the workforce had boasted in regards to the variety of black girls he had had intercourse with.

He mentioned “he and his spouse have been swingers” and likewise described how they’d intercourse with two girls they met on the seashore on vacation, in response to abstract notes of Google’s investigation submitted to courtroom.

The shopper mentioned the dialog was unprompted and occurred in entrance of his line supervisor who did nothing to cease him, describing their behaviour as “disgusting,” in courtroom paperwork.

Woodall reported the shopper’s considerations to her boss Matt Bush, then managing director of the company workforce, and Google opened an inside investigation into the supervisor’s conduct, it provides.

Whereas this investigation was underway, Woodall raised a second criticism from one other feminine shopper who alleged the identical supervisor had proven her a “image of his spouse’s vagina” whereas scrolling by pictures on his telephone, in response to her declare.

Google interviewed 12 folks as a part of its investigation and uncovered additional incidents which it discovered amounted to sexual harassment in breach of firm insurance policies, in response to emails, notes and a duplicate of the report submitted to the tribunal.

The supervisor was discovered on the steadiness of possibilities to have sexually harassed two feminine workers throughout a piece occasion, the place he allegedly touched one colleague’s leg throughout a dialog and rubbed one other colleague’s again and shoulders, each with out their consent.

Google additionally discovered he had allegedly made inappropriate feedback to employees, together with telling a feminine colleague he had met for the primary time that he was in an open marriage and that if she had “intercourse with him within the lavatory, his spouse would take pleasure in listening to about it”.

The supervisor denied the allegations throughout Google’s investigation and mentioned he didn’t suppose he had shared along with his workmates that he has an open relationship along with his spouse, in response to the report.

He was sacked for gross misconduct, courtroom paperwork present, whereas his line supervisor and one other senior colleague have been really helpful for “documented teaching” for failing to intervene. They have been each later made redundant.

Woodall claims that shortly after reporting the sexual harassment in 2022, her boss, Matt Bush, gave her “little alternative” however to swap her profitable shopper account with a failing one – which up till that time had belonged to one of many two colleagues to later obtain disciplinary motion following her whistleblowing.

She described the transfer as a “poisoned chalice” that had left her weak to redundancy, the courtroom heard.

She says she was then demoted to a subordinate function on an enormous inside undertaking supporting the opposite senior supervisor her report had implicated. Her boss later tried to downgrade her efficiency amongst different retaliatory actions, in response to her declare.

In his witness assertion, Bush says he at all times supported Woodall’s profession and took fostering inclusivity and gender equality in hiring pipelines and promotions very severely, including that it was normal follow to usually transfer accounts between the workforce.

In 2023, Google began a redundancy course of that resulted within the departures of her boss and one of many senior managers who didn’t report the sexual harassment, in response to courtroom paperwork.

In Could that yr, Woodall took her considerations a couple of boys’ membership tradition and the retaliation she was dealing with to the highest of the organisation.

In her witness assertion, she says she met with Debbie Weinstein, then vp of Google UK and Eire after listening to from a HR colleague that she was involved in regards to the workforce and the experiences of ladies.

Following their dialogue, Weinstein, now president of Europe, Center East and Africa, appeared shocked by Woodall’s claims. Courtroom paperwork present she messaged a member of HR: “Simply met Vicki [Woodall]. Holy moly. Wish to get you for 10 minutes as we speak.”

Then in November 2023, as Google ready for a broader reorganisation and redundancy course of, Woodall claims there was a last push to take away her from the company workforce.

That month, Weinstein messaged Dyana Najdi, Google’s managing director for UK and Eire promoting, to say: “maintain pushing…for answer on how one can run a course of together with company [Woodall’s team]… gotta use this as an opportunity to exit folks”, in response to messages of their dialog submitted to courtroom.

In March 2024, Woodall was made redundant alongside the second senior supervisor concerned within the misconduct investigation, nevertheless she stays employed by the corporate receiving long-term illness funds for work-related stress, in response to her declare.

Google denies that Woodall was made redundant for whistleblowing, including that her function was one in every of 26 throughout the workforce and wider division closed, in response to its defence.

It disputes that Weinstein tried to make Woodall redundant, saying she was very supportive in direction of her and instigated the investigation into the tradition of the company workforce.

The corporate accepts that Woodall’s report of the supervisor accused of misconduct was an act of whistleblowing, however denies any retaliation towards her, saying the next occasions have been completely regular enterprise selections.