Google fired 28 employees in connection with sit-in protests at two of its offices this week, according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge. The firings come after 9 employees were suspended and then arrested in New York and California on Tuesday.
In a memo sent to all employees on Wednesday, Chris Rackow, Google’s head of global security, said that “behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it.”
He also warned that the company would take more action if needed: “The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing. If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again. The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior — up to and including termination.”
Google has broken their corporate ethics so many times I lost count. But that’s not what’s at issue here.
The employees here broke the law by destroying Google property. That’s why they were fired, not specifically because of their speech (though I’m sure that motivated a more aggressive response).
I totally agree that employees should be calling them out on it, but they should do so without breaking the law. Protest on public property just outside the building. Raise awareness with fellow employees who may not be aware. Write open letters. But don’t break the law, that’ll just get you fired and maybe arrested.