It hasn’t been long since Google grabbed headlines for sacking a group of employees that had protested to express their disapproval of Google working with the Israel government on a project. In addition to these 28 employees, another 20 were fired a little later for taking advantage of the ‘open culture’ at Google.
Now, the fired employees are accusing Google of terminating their services unlawfully and are demanding their jobs back. They have reportedly approached the National Labour Relations Board with their complaint. The group, called No Tech for Apartheid, maintains that even those employees who had not actively participated in the protests were terminated without any explanation.
The Verge reported that these employees are upset that Google retaliated in such a manner following a protest that was peaceful and did not even disrupt work and had a direct bearing on the terms and conditions of their work contract. Some of them were apparently only watching the protests as passive onlookers.
Meanwhile, Google maintains that the terminated employees were definitely found to be participating in the protests and that is why they were fired.
Following the sit-in protests by the employee group, Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google had made it clear to the employees that although the company promotes an open work culture where people are free to voice their opinions and hold discussions, they have to be mindful of the limitations and avoid overstepping. He had conveyed that the employees are expected to concentrate on being productive and not waste time on protests and staging demonstrations.
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The CEO’s reasoning resonates with me, as it underscores the company’s prerogative to optimize its workforce. Let’s view this as an opportunity to channel our efforts towards tasks that drive productivity and contribute to the organisations success.