14 DAY TRIAL // Privacy has become a central concern for anyone who goes online, and Google is known for storing some personal information from users and people who search for various things online. Free Internet does mean some costs must be paid in the form of personal privacy.
However, the situation is completely different when you’re dealing with an employer that’s potentially violating some confidentiality laws. Google has been accused of breaching California labor laws with its internal confidentiality policies.
A Google product manager sued the search giant, accusing the company of running an internal “spying program,” which allegedly requires employees to voluntarily give out information about their colleagues who might have leaked information.
The Information reported that Google went as far as warning employees not to write down concerns about potential illegal activities within the company, for fear of regulators and law enforcement getting their hands on the disclosures.
This is not all, Google’s confidentiality policies also ban employees from writing “a novel about someone working at a tech company in Silicon Valley” without the company agreeing on the final draft. This would mean that Google probably doesn’t want employees to give out too much information about internal policies and work environments.
Google is risking a fine of up to $3.8 billion
The report mentions that the lawsuit was filed by the same person who submitted a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this year. The person known solely as “John Doe” filed a complaint over many of the same policies.
If found guilty of breaching California labor law, Google might face a fine of up to $100 for each of the 12 accusations, multiplied by more than 61,000 employees. The fine can be doubled to $200 per employee for an entire year if the violations persist.
This totals to a maximum payout of about $3.8 billion for Google. The suit also claims that Google advises employees not to write emails that would detail how the company may have broken the law or breached contract terms.