Shareholder James Martin is suing the Alphabet board and senior executives, including two who allegedly received received huge payouts as they were forced out of the company over claims of sexual misconduct.
A lawyer for Martin claimed Thursday that the board’s response to sexual harassment allegations cost the company a $90 million severance package to Android creator Andy Rubin, accused of coercing a female Google employee into oral sex, plus millions more in severance for Search chief Amit Singhal, who was accused of drunkenly groping a female Googler at an off-site event.
A worldwide walkout in November by thousands of Google employees, in response to revelations in the New York Times about Rubin’s alleged golden parachute, cost Google hundreds of millions of dollars beyond the executives’ payouts, and fallout from the purported scandal led to billions of dollars in losses to Alphabet’s value in the stock market, lawyer Frank Bottini said at a press conference in San Francisco.
Alphabet’s market capitalization was about $760 billion just before the New York Times article on Rubin was published, and as of Thursday was $748 billion.
Internal probes found sexual misconduct claims against Rubin and Singhal credible, the lawsuit alleged. The suit also cited reports of previous sexual misconduct by senior Googlers.
“The conduct of Rubin and other executives was disgusting, illegal, immoral, degrading to women, and contrary to every principle that Google claims it abides by,” the lawsuit claimed.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, filed Thursday morning in San Mateo County Superior Court. Rubin in an August tweet dismissed as a “smear campaign” the claim that he had coerced a woman into sex in a hotel room. A lawyer for Rubin in this case and his divorce, Ellen Stross, said the lawsuit and much recent news coverage “mischaracterizes Andy’s departure from Google and sensationalizes claims made about Andy by his ex-wife.” Rubin left Google voluntarily, Stross said. “Andy denies any misconduct, and we look forward to telling his story in court.”
Singhal could not be reached for comment.
Google said late last year it had fired 48 people in the previous two years for sexual harassment, including 13 who were senior managers or above, and none received severance packages.
Martin’s lawyers said the lawsuit was based on minutes from board meetings, which were obtained from Alphabet on the condition that the contents be kept confidential. Details of allegations are redacted from public court filings.
Alphabet’s directors paid Rubin “handsomely” to “ensure his silence,” the suit claimed, “since they apparently feared that if they fired Rubin for cause, he would sue Google for wrongful termination and all the tawdry details of sexual harassment by senior executives at Google would become public.”
Rubin, according to the lawsuit, was also found to have had bondage videos on his work computer at Google, and the company “merely docked Rubin’s bonus slightly,” the lawsuit claimed.
While senior male executives accused of sexual misconduct at Google received hefty golden parachutes, Alphabet employed a double standard for discipline, the lawsuit alleged.
“If you were a high-level male executive at Google responsible for generating millions of dollars in revenue, Google would let you engage in sexual harassment. And if you get caught, Google would keep it quiet, let you resign, and pay you millions of dollars in severance,” the suit claimed. “If you were a low-level employee at Google and were accused of sexual harassment or discrimination, you would be fired for cause with no severance benefits.”
The lawsuit and a similar one reportedly filed Wednesday come amid the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct toward women. Lawyers for Martin said they hoped the suit would generate effects beyond Google. “There really needs to be a massive change not only at Google but also many Silicon Valley companies, where we know it’s the same old boys’ club even today, even after all the MeToo that has transpired,” said lawyer Ann Ravel.
Martin, a Google investor who does not work for the company, is seeking unspecified damages and a change to a “one share, one vote” stock structure from the dual-class structure that currently gives Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin about 60 percent of voting power in Alphabet shareholder votes.
Pension funds filed a similar lawsuit against Alphabet in the same court Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.