This article was translated from our Spanish edition using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.
Three former Google employees allege that their firing from the company was breaking their own code of conduct, “don’t be mean.” They filed their claim in federal court in California and are demanding financial compensation.
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Engineers Rebecca Rivers, Paul Duke, and Sophie Waldman say Google is going against their unofficial motto “Don’t be evil” by firing them for talking about “evil” things that were happening within the company. Although this slogan was eliminated from the contract signed by the employees, it was still in force in the code signed by the three engineers who were fired.
In addition, in the updated version of the code of conduct, the company encourages its employees to talk about anything they see within the company that does not seem right to them. “Don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think is not right, speak up!” The document says.
Rivers, Duke and Waldman comment that their firing was the result of protesting against a computer contract with the US Customs and Border Protection which they consider unethical. Meanwhile, Google says they were fired for leaking confidential information to the press.
“Google realized that ‘don’t be evil’ was costing them money and prompting workers to organize,” say the engineers.