According to a lawsuit filed by the employee this week, a top manager on Google’s global security team bluntly laughed about a corporate security guard in text conversations, part of a pattern of workplace harassment against the gay, Black employee.
David Brown, who is jointly employed by Alphabet Inc and security firm Allied Universal, is seeking unspecified monetary damages for alleged physical and emotional harassment at Google’s Los Angeles offices based on his sexual orientation and race, which occurred between 2014 and last year, according to the lawsuit.
Following societal rallies highlighting racism, many big corporations, including Google, increased their efforts to build more inclusive workplaces last year. Some Google employees, including over 2,000 who signed an open letter on the subject in April, believe the firm does not hold abusers appropriately accountable.
Brown`s supervisor accounted for much of the alleged problematic behavior, including “grabbing him on the buttocks, kicking him in the groin, throwing him through a window head first and brutally grabbing his nipples,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in a state court in Los Angeles.
The supervisor, Henry Linares, was fired for other reasons this year, according to the filing. A LinkedIn profile indicates he left Google and Allied Universal in July. He did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Google`s senior manager for global community operations, Rus Rossini, “participated in the discrimination and sexual harassment and took no corrective action,” the lawsuit further alleges.
During a chat last year about items missing from Google’s offices, which were quiet due to the pandemic, Rossini messaged the supervisor, “Strip searches for all,” according to the lawsuit and a screenshot of the exchange.
After the supervisor responded that, “David is going to love that,” Rossini followed, “Tell David to bend over.” The supervisor, who shared the screenshot with Brown, responded, “hahah I`ll tell him you said Hellooo.”
Rossini did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He remains employed at Google, according to a LinkedIn profile.
Brown`s attorney V. James DeSimone said Rossini should have addressed the abuse, especially after Brown “turned those screenshots to human resources, implicating Rossini in the harassment.”
