Benjamin Cruz, a former designer in Google's Cloud division, was annoyed when a colleague told him his skin was much darker than he expected.
Cruz, who is Mexican-American, reported the incident to human resources in 2019, where staff told him to “see the good intention in the incident.” Unsatisfied with the response, Cruz asked human resources people to investigate the incident further, and an HR official said the investigation into the matter had been closed, Cruz said.
So Cruz sought help from human resources again. The solution? They urged Cruz to take a medical leave and take care of his mental health before moving on to a new role at the company. Cruz took a medical leave and hoped to take on the new position upon his return. But Cruz apparently was rejected from the position he was initially offered, so he was forced to resign.
Google declined to comment on Cruz's claims.
Cruz’s experience with Google HR is similar to several experiences that former and current Google employees have had, including two women of color, Timnit Gebru and April Curley, who have not worked at Google since late last year. Both women complained to the human resources department about racial discrimination at Google and were treated by the department: they were suggested to see mental health counselors or take a medical leave.
In early 2020, a woman of color was at a Google meeting about supporting women at the company where data was presented showing the rates of minority employee turnover. When she said that women of color, Latinas, and Native Americans have very different experiences than their white female colleagues, her manager responded violently, telling her that her suggestion was irrelevant, the woman said.
The woman then complained to human resources, who advised her to either guide the manager about his problematic response or take medical leave to take care of her own mental health, she said. The woman spoke anonymously because she is still an employee of the company and is not authorized to speak to reporters.
Gebru and Curley worked in very different parts of Google. Gebru was a lead researcher on Google’s Ethical AI team and is one of the leading women in her field, known for her work. Curley was a technician at the company. Employees said they were motivated to speak out after Gebru and Curley left, saying both women were fired after speaking out about racism and sexism at the company.
In her six years at Google, Curley said she never received a raise or promotion. She was assigned to nine different managers during her tenure, and she reported two of them to human resources for alleged mistreatment of her and her team, the majority of whom were women of color. Curley says that each time she complained to Google, the company investigated and said was wrong. She said she was then offered mental health support or the opportunity to take medical leave.
Current and former Google employees who are white say they faced similar treatment from human resources when they spoke out about issues of race and gender discrimination.
In late 2018, Claire Stapleton, who worked at Google for 12 years, helped organize a strike to protest how the company handled allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
After organizing the protest, Stapleton said she complained to human resources that her manager was demeaning her. She hoped HR would provide a mediator to help her find a solution. Instead, an HR consultant told Stapleton to try to improve her relationship with her manager. Another HR manager recommended talk to a third manager who specializes in employee benefits. He suggested Stapleton take a medical leave, she said. She didn’t take the medical leave, but she resigned.
Workplace diversity and inclusion experts say it's common for human resources employees to use mental health as a tactic to ignore discrimination.
Source of information: nbcnews.com
