Google worker made redundant after reporting sexual harassment, courtroom hears

A senior Google worker has claimed she was made redundant after reporting a supervisor who informed purchasers tales about his swinger life-style 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 inner 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 large denies retaliating towards Woodall and argues she grew to become “paranoid” after whistleblowing and started to view regular enterprise actions as “sinister”.

In her declare, Woodall says her personal boss subjected her to a “relentless campaign of retaliation” after her criticism additionally implicated his shut mates 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’ club” tradition, together with that up till December 2022, Google had been funding a males’s solely “chairman’s lunch”.

Google mentioned an inner investigation discovered no such tradition and the occasion was ended because it was not according to 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 Sales and Agencies crew.

In August 2022, based on her declare, she was contacted by a feminine shopper who mentioned that, throughout a enterprise lunch, a supervisor within the crew had boasted concerning the variety of black ladies he had had intercourse with.

He mentioned “he and his wife were swingers” and likewise described how they’d intercourse with two ladies they met on the seaside on vacation, based on 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 crew, and Google opened an inner investigation into the supervisor’s conduct, it provides.

While this investigation was underway, Woodall raised a second criticism from one other feminine shopper who alleged the identical supervisor had proven her a “picture of his wife’s vagina” whereas scrolling by pictures on his cellphone, based on 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, based on 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 “sex with him in the bathroom, his wife would enjoy hearing 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, based on the report.

He was sacked for gross misconduct, courtroom paperwork present, whereas his line supervisor and one other senior colleague have been advisable for “documented coaching” 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 choice” 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 susceptible to redundancy, the courtroom heard.

She says she was then demoted to a subordinate position on a giant inner mission supporting the opposite senior supervisor her report had implicated. Her boss later tried to downgrade her efficiency amongst different retaliatory actions, based on her declare.

In his witness assertion, Bush says he all the time supported Woodall’s profession and took fostering inclusivity and gender equality in hiring pipelines and promotions very significantly, including that it was commonplace follow to repeatedly transfer accounts between the crew.

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, based on courtroom paperwork.

In May that 12 months, Woodall took her considerations a few 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 vice chairman of Google UK and Ireland after listening to from a HR colleague that she was involved concerning the crew and the experiences of ladies.

Following their dialogue, Weinstein, now president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, appeared shocked by Woodall’s claims. Court paperwork present she messaged a member of HR: “Just met Vicki [Woodall]. Holy moly. Want to get you for 10 mins today.”

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

That month, Weinstein messaged Dyana Najdi, Google’s managing director for UK and Ireland promoting, to say: “keep pushing…for solution on how you can run a process including agency [Woodall’s team]… gotta use this as a chance to exit people”, based on 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, based on her declare.

Google denies that Woodall was made redundant for whistleblowing, including that her position was certainly one of 26 throughout the crew and wider division closed, based on its defence.

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

The firm 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.