Google broke US labor law by spying on and firing workers, complaint alleges – CNET [CNET]

The National Labor Relations Board alleges Google broke US labor laws by surveilling and then firing employees who organized protests against the search giant, according to the Worker Agency, an advocacy firm that works on labor campaigns. 

The complaint by the NLRB, which was filed Wednesday, addresses the firings of Laurence Berland and Kathryn Spiers, the Worker Agency said. The pair were terminated by Google last year after the search giant said they had violated its policies. 

Some of those policies are unlawful, according to the NLRB complaint, which alleges Google has illegally interrogated and suspended workers. Details of the complaint were related by the Worker Agency, which worked with Berland, Spiers and Laurie Burgess, legal counsel for the pair. The NLRB didn’t respond to a request for comment. (The case file can be found here.)

Google didn’t respond to a request for comment. 

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. 

Berland and Spiers both organized protests at Google, including an employee response to the company’s hiring of IRI Consultants, a firm known for its anti-union efforts. Google fired Berland last year for accessing documents and calendar information outside the scope of his job. Berland said he didn’t break any rules by reviewing the information.

Activists at Google said the firing was punishment for workplace organizing. 

“Google’s hiring of IRI is an unambiguous declaration that management will no longer tolerate worker organizing,” Berland said in a statement. “Management and their union busting cronies wanted to send that message, and the NLRB is now sending their own message: worker organizing is protected by law.”

Spiers was fired after creating a pop-up notification that appeared whenever Google employees visited the IRI website from a company computer. The notice described workers rights when it comes to labor organizing. Google violated labor law for punishing workers involved in creating the pop-up, the NLRB complaint says.

Last year, approximately 200 Google workers and other supporters rallied outside one of Google’s San Francisco offices. The activists alleged that Google management was retaliating against employees for speaking out against the search giant.