Google Settles Labor Case, Promises to Not Silence Workers Discussing Pay

Google has reportedly pledged not to silence workers who discuss their pay as part of a settlement resolving one of the first legal complaints filed by a new union representing hundreds of employees and contract workers at the firm.

Bloomberg reports that tech giant Google has promised not to silence workers discussing their pay as part of a settlement resolving one of the first legal complaints filed by a new union representing workers at the firm.

A notice to staff, signed by an attorney for Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc. states: “WE WILL NOT tell you that you cannot discuss policies with other employees.” The notice was posted at a Google data center in South Carolina and adds: “WE WILL NOT discipline you because you exercise your right to discuss wage rates, bonuses, hours and working conditions with other employees.”

The settlement ends a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaint that was filed by the Alphabet Workers Union in February, alleging that Google management at the data center would not allow workers to discuss their pay and suspended a data technician named Shannon Wait as she posted a pro-union post to Facebook. Wait was reinstated in early 2021 but left shortly afterward.

The Alphabet Workers Union filed its complaint against a unit of Google staffing vendor Adecco Group AG which employed workers including Wait, and also against Alphabet which it deemed was a “joint employer,” which is a company with sufficed control over a group of workers to be legally liable for their treatment.

Google and Adecco did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment but stated that it did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement and did not admit to being a “joint employer” of contract staff.

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