Google layoffs: ‘Most powerful company instilling fear’ say sacked employees, appeal in Labour Court

livemint.com:

The Washington Post, citing documents filed by the fired employees, stated Google violated their rights “by terminating and/or placing them on administrative leave in response to their protected concerted activity, namely, participation (or perceived participation) in a peaceful, non-disruptive protest that was directly and explicitly connected to their terms and conditions of work." Google termed the employees' dissent “completely unacceptable" and issued a statement that read, “We carefully confirmed and reconfirmed that every single person whose employment was terminated was directly and definitively involved in disruption inside our buildings." A former Google employee, Zelda Montes, who was arrested while staging the protest, said, “Google is attempting to instil fear in employees," reported Reuters. She claimed that Google's actions were directed to stop organising efforts in the company, sending the message across to all of its employees that dissent would not be tolerated.

One of the fired workers, a software engineer at Google, said, “That’s legally protected activity," reported the Washington Post. Suggesting the tech giant's widespread impact, the employee said, "Google is probably the most powerful company in the world, and the work the workers do every day has an incredible impact.