Google To End Forced Arbitration With Employees In Sexual Harassment Cases

Dhir Acharya - Feb 22, 2019

On Thursday, Google said it will stop requiring its current and future employees to undergo compulsory arbitration for their disputes with the company.

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On Thursday, Google said it will stop requiring its current and future employees to undergo forced arbitration for their disputes with the company.

This change will take effect from March 21. In addition, Google will delete mandatory arbitration on its employment agreements with contractors and temporary employees, but staffing companies won’t be affected by this change. The news came out via Axios.

This is likely to be the result of Google employees’ walkout back in November to protest the way it handles sexual harassment complaints. One of the demands in the walkout was that Google ends forced arbitration in cases of sexual discrimination and harassments. After the walkout, while the search giant eliminated arbitration requirements in cases of sexual harassment claims, organizers said that wasn’t enough. However, Google’s Thursday announcement is the ultimate end to this practice for its employees.

According to a tweet on the same day, Google walkout organizers said:

The company also stated that it would drop forced arbitration requirements from agreements with vendors, contractors as well as temporary workers. Nevertheless, this change doesn’t affect workers controlled by temp agencies.

When a company applies forced arbitration, workers cannot sue their employers in court when complaining internally. As claimed by the organizers of the walkout, this practice affects somewhat 60 million Americans.

Other giant tech firms have done the same thing. In May, Uber removed all arbitration agreements on individual claims of sexual harassment or assault with its drivers, riders, and staff. Plus, the company put an end to confidentiality provisions which prevented victims from raising their voices. In November, Facebook said that it would stop forced arbitration in sexual harassment cases.

Last month, several Google employees announced a social media campaign to force the company and other technology firms to drop forced arbitration. While the group praised Google’s change, it said it won’t stop until forced arbitration is stopped with all workers.