A group of Google employees recently staged anti-Israel protests where they forcibly occupied an executive’s office in California and office space in the company’s New York building. The protestors demanded that Google cease doing business with Israel.
However, the stunt led to the firing of 28 employees, where Google told its employees to “think again” if they thought the company would not enforce workplace policies. According to reports, the employees were initially placed on administrative leave before being terminated following an investigation. Some protestors were arrested after refusing to leave the workspace for hours.
Google vice president of global security Chris Rackow issued a company-wide memo slamming the actions of the protesting employees. He labeled the behavior as “unacceptable” and “disruptive.” “They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” Rackow said. “Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made coworkers feel threatened.”
Rackow emphasized that such disruptive conduct would not be tolerated in Google’s workplace, explaining how it violates employee policy. “Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it,” he said. “It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to … we are a place of business and every Googler is expected to read our policies and apply them to how they conduct themselves and communicate in our workplace.”
The global security vice president added that most employees at Google “do the right thing.” He offered a warning to other Google employees, stating, “If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again.”
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