December 20, 2024
By Michelle Morgante
Regional Managing Editor, The Recorder
In Lawsuit, Ex-Google Employee Says Company’s Layoffs Targeted Parents and Others on Leave
A former Google employee who was laid off while on maternity leave last year has filed suit against the technology giant and its parent company, Alphabet, alleging a pattern of discrimination against workers who took time off for pregnancies and other medical leaves.
The suit alleges Google targeted Paula Byrne for layoff despite having given her positive performance reviews and multiple promotions during her 15 years with the company. It was filed on Dec. 11 in Santa Clara County Superior Court by attorneys Tracy Lemmon of Lemmon Employment Law & Conflict Resolution of Oakland and Maria Bourn of Gomerman/Bourn & Associates of San Francisco.
Before beginning her maternity leave in April 2023, Byrne led a team of more than 30 full-time and temporary staffers as head of education, devices services customer care, and had been on track for another promotion, according to the complaint. Instead, that November, while caring for her newborn daughter, Byrne learned she was being laid off. Of the seven employees let go from Byrne’s team, five had taken or requested protected family leave, it said, while the employees who remained did not have young children.
“These actions left plaintiff and the other employees devastated and struggling to regain income and benefits for their new family, to balance job hunting with caring for their newborns, highlighting the vulnerability of new parents in the workforce during economic downturns,” the complaint said.
For its part, Google refutes the allegations and said such layoffs are part of changes it has made to improve efficiency and alignment of resources.
“We have zero-tolerance for discrimination and take all concerns very seriously,” spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement emailed to The Recorder. “Reorganizations are part of the normal course of business, and in some cases include role eliminations. Teams make decisions based purely on business needs and in line with our very clear anti-discrimination policies.”
Counsel for the defendants has yet to appear.
In an interview with The Recorder on Friday, Lemmon said that while Byrne’s layoff may have been part of a reorganization by Google, it also “was part of a calculated chess move to exit people that they wanted to leave who use leave.”
“I'm not saying employers can't have layoffs and reductions in force,” Lemmon said. “What I am saying is that when they're targeting a certain group of people who are taking advantage of their rights to job-protected leave and to benefits that have been offered them that should not be used as a reason to get rid of them.”
Byrne began working for Google in 2010 while living in Dublin, Ireland, Lemmon said. Initially, she was hired as a contractor through a third-party agency, but was brought onto Google as a full-time employee because of her strong performance.
In 2015, Google asked Byrne to relocate to its headquarters in Mountain View, California, Lemmon said, and they sponsored her U.S. work visa because of her specialized skills.
Byrne bought a condo near Google and was a dedicated employee, Lemmon said. “She was all Google all the time,” she said. Byrne wanted to become a mother but postponed doing so because she worried it could affect her career. Finally, at age 42, Byrne became pregnant through in vitro fertilization.
“She literally delayed as long as she could,” Lemmon said. “She thought, after 15 years of excellent performance … that it was a promotion that was coming, not the exit.”
Lemmon said Google has a record of discriminating against pregnant workers, pointing to the suit filed in Washington State by Chelsey Glasson, a Seattle woman whose fight against Google is the subject of her book “Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir.” Glasson’s claim ended in a settlement in 2022.
Google’s work culture values youth and total dedication, Lemmon said. “They loved [Byrne] while she could give herself 24/7 and be 100% available,” she said. “Then when you take leave, you get a black mark on your record. And we've seen that. We've seen that a lot.”
Lemmon said that, since Byrne’s suit was filed, more than 20 employees have contacted her with similar complaints. Each of those is now being reviewed, she said.
Craig Barkacs, a business law professor at the Knauss School of Business at the University of San Diego who is not affiliated with any side in the case, said such additional allegations could have a “validating impact” on Byrne’s case.
The narrative established in Byrne’s complaint, he said, is compelling and Google likely will have to clearly explain why she was let go despite her stellar work history. It also will have to contend with potential age discrimination, which is triggered at age 40, he noted.
“I will tell you the optics on terminating any employee while they are on maternity leave is very troubling, and companies need to have a really good explanation for why that happened,” he told The Recorder by phone. “That will be up to Google to establish that.”
Byrne, who is now 44, made repeated attempts to find a new role with Google but was unsuccessful, Lemmon said. As her work visa expired and she lost her health benefits, she decided to return to the U.K. to be near family and have health care coverage. She now lives in Devon, England, and is still looking for employment. Her condo near Google is for sale.
Google had offered her a “substantial” severance package, Lemmon said, but Byrne refused to accept it because she would relinquish her ability to challenge her layoff. Lemmon said that in addition to receiving justice for Byrne she hopes the suit will force Google and other California employers to disclose whether workers who are selected for layoff have used protected medical leaves, just as employers must disclose ages.
“She is so courageous,” Lemmon said. “She's a woman of principle, and she's doing this to stop the practice, and also because all the people she worked with all the time on her team were finally starting their families. To see them all decimated … she wants that not to happen again.”