Hundreds of Google employees in Washington walked out of their offices Thursday to protest how the company handled sexual harassment allegations.
The employees are angry over reports male executives accused of misconduct were paid millions of dollars, and they're demanding change.
“Time is up,” said Alice Lemieux, a Google software engineer who spoke during a demonstration outside the company’s Fremont offices. “Time is up on sexual harassment, time is up on abuse of power, time's up on systemic racism.”
The crowd that gathered outside the offices joined thousands of others at company properties around the globe who walked off the job Thursday protesting "a culture of complicity, dismissiveness, and support for perpetrators in the face of sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse of power."
“Thank you all for taking the risk to show up. There are people who didn't feel safe enough to be here due to visa concerns or fear of retaliation,” said Lemieux.
The walkouts, including a large group at the Google Kirkland offices, are in response to reporting by the New York Times about how Google paid a $90 million exit package to a male executive accused of harassment. The company paid millions to another accused executive, the Times reported.
The demonstrations evolved into an opportunity to demand the company do a better job closing pay gaps related to gender and race, and insist that Google come up with a better way of allowing employees to report sexual harassment.
“I'm impressed that so many people did turn out,” said Nancy Avinger, a Google technical writer in Fremont who believes the movement is too important for her employer to ignore.
“I am hopeful because one of our directors really supported us walking out today, so I think they're hearing us loud and clear,” Avinger added.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded to the walkouts, saying during a Thursday conference, "moments like this show that we didn't always get it right and so we are committed to doing better."
Pichai said Google has evolved and has fired 48 employees for sexual misconduct allegations. Those employees did not walk away with exit packages, the company said.
