Google employees launch a social media campaign to end forced arbitration

A group of Google employees took to social media on Tuesday to protest against forced arbitration at workplaces. The social media campaign on Twitter and Instagram aimed at educating people about forced arbitration and held talks with survivors and experts between 9 am and 6 pm EST. Forced arbitration ensures workplace disputes are settled behind closed doors and without any right to an appeal. These types of agreements effectively prevent employees from suing companies in event of an injustice, often without their knowledge. Clauses that make employees waive off their rights are often buried in fine print in employment contracts and they not only allow the organisations against which the case has been filed to make the court proceedings confidential but it also enables them to select the decision makers such that the decision is ruled in the company's favour, reported India Today.

This group that led the campaign is the same one that came together about a month ago demanding Google ends forced arbitration as it relates to any case of discrimination. 

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In November last year, as many as 20,000 employees staged a walkout at Google an October 25 New York Times report that said Android creator Andy Rubin had allegedly been given a $90-million exit package in 2014 after credible sexual assault allegations had been brought against him. This prompted Google to end forced arbitration for sexual harassment and sexual assault claims, offering more transparency around those investigations and more. Airbnb, eBay and Facebook quickly followed suit.  Google told employees that arbitration in cases of sexual harassment and assault claims will be made optional. However, optional arbitration at Google is only granted for full-time employees, which does not include the thousands of contract workers at the company. 

But Google's response didn't go far enough, organizers wrote in a Medium post on Monday announcing the social media campaign, as reported by CNBC. "The change yielded a win in the headlines, but provided no meaningful gains for worker equity … nor any actual change in employee contracts or future offer letters," they wrote, adding that as of the post's publication, "Google is still sending out offer letters with the old arbitration policy."

As reported by CNBC, Google did not return a request for comment.