U.S. labor board says Google spied on, illegally fired workers

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will file a complaint accusing Alphabet Inc's Google of unlawfully monitoring and questioning workers, who were fired for protesting against company policies and trying to organize a union, former employees said in a statement on Wednesday.

The complaint names two employees, Laurence Berland and Kathryn Spiers, both of whom were fired by the company in late 2019 in connection with employee activism. Berland was organizing against Google's decision to work with IRI Consultants, a firm widely known for its anti-union efforts, when he was let go for reviewing other employees' calendars. Now, the NLRB has found Google's policy against employees looking at certain coworkers' calendars is unlawful.

Google said it was confident in its legal position.

"Google has always worked to support a culture of internal discussion, and we place immense trust in our employees," it said. "Actions undertaken by the employees at issue were a serious violation of our policies and an unacceptable breach of a trusted responsibility."

The complaint comes after a tumultuous period at the search giant, which has dealt with uprisings from its workforce over the past few years. Rank-and-file employees have spoken out against the company's work in China, its contracts with the US military, and Google's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against senior executives.

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