The Post has learned that Google has dismissed 28 employees for participating in a 10-hour sit-in at the company’s headquarters in New York and Sunnyvale, California, to protest the company’s economic links with the Israeli government.
The pro-Palestinian employees, who wore traditional Arab headscarves as they stormed and occupied a top executive’s office in California on Tuesday, were fired late Wednesday following an internal investigation, Google vice president of global security Chris Rackow said in a companywide memo.
“They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” Rackow wrote in the memo published by The Post. “Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.”
Protesters in New York held the 10th floor of Google’s offices in Chelsea, Manhattan, as part of a protest that also included the company’s offices in Seattle for what was dubbed the “No Tech for Genocide Day of Action.”
“Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it,” Rackow said in a statement. “It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to – including our code of conduct and policy on harassment, discrimination, retaliation, standards of conduct, and workplace concerns.”
Rackow went on to say that the firm “takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior – up to and including termination.”
The sacked employees are associated with an organization called No Tech For Apartheid, which has criticized Google’s attitude to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The group had broadcast multiple videos and livestreams of the protests on its X account, including the exact moment when employees were given final warnings and arrested by local police for trespassing.
The demonstrators have asked that Google withdraw from a $1.2 billion “Project Nimbus” deal, under which Google Cloud and Amazon Web capabilities supply cloud computing and artificial intelligence capabilities to the Israeli government and military.
Critics at the corporation expressed fear that the technology would be weaponized against Palestinians in Gaza.
In a statement released by No Tech over Apartheid spokesperson Jane Chung, the affected employees slammed Google over the firings.
“This evening, Google indiscriminately fired 28 workers, including those among us who did not directly participate in yesterday’s historic, bicoastal 10-hour sit-in protests,” the employees claimed in a press release.
“This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers — the ones who create real value for executives and shareholders.”
“Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian are genocide profiteers,” the message continued, referring to Google’s CEO and the CEO of its cloud division, respectively.
“We cannot comprehend how these men are able to sleep at night while their tech has enabled 100,000 Palestinians killed, reported missing, or wounded in the last six months of Israel’s genocide — and counting.”
According to an NYPD official, the Tuesday demonstration “involved approximately 50 participants” and “four arrests were made for trespassing inside the Google building.”
According to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, the California demonstration “consisted of around 80 participants.” Five protesters who refused to leave the Google headquarters were “arrested without incident for criminal trespassing,” according to a spokeswoman. They were booked and released.
It was not immediately clear whether all nine arrested employees were dismissed. Google had already placed employees on administrative leave and restricted their access to key networks.
Last month, Google fired a software developer for openly criticizing one of the company’s Israel-based leaders at a tech conference in New York City.
When asked for comment, a Google spokeswoman confirmed the firings.
“These protests were part of a longstanding campaign by a group of organizations and people who largely don’t work at Google,” the spokesman said in a statement.
“A small group of staff demonstrators invaded and disturbed several of our facilities. Physically hindering other employees’ work and denying them access to our facilities is a blatant violation of our standards, and it is entirely unacceptable behavior.”
“We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed,” a spokeswoman said.
Demonstrators invaded Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s home office in Sunnyvale.
Kurian’s custom-made, framed Golden State Warriors jersey could be seen on the office wall in the background of the webcast, and staffers had written a list of requests on his whiteboard.
The companywide memo is available in its entirety below.
Googlers,
You may have seen reports of protests at some of our offices yesterday. Unfortunately, a number of employees brought the event into our buildings in New York and Sunnyvale. They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers. Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened. We placed employees involved under investigation and cut their access to our systems. Those who refused to leave were arrested by law enforcement and removed from our offices.
Following the investigation, today we terminated the employment of twenty-eight employees found to be involved. We will continue to investigate and take action as needed.
Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it. It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to – including our Code of Conduct and Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, Retaliation, Standards of Conduct, and Workplace Concerns.