Google tells employees they won't be disciplined if they discuss wages and working conditions
- Google has settled a complaint filed to the NLRB over employees discussing pay.
- Google will not discipline workers who discuss pay, hours, or working conditions with one another.
- A Google contractor said she was illegally suspended for complaining about the company's policy.
Google will not bar employees from discussing pay with their colleagues, settling a complaint filed to the National Labor Relations Board.
Google and its parent company, Alphabet, and the contract firm Modis signed a notice on Wednesday that prohibits the firm from disciplining workers for discussing wages, bonuses, hours, and working conditions with other employees.
"WE WILL NOT tell you that you cannot discuss policies with other employees," the notice, signed by the three parties reads. "WE WILL NOT discipline you because you exercise your right to discuss wage rates, bonuses, hours and working conditions with other employees."
The notice resolved a complaint filed in February by the Alphabet Workers Union, part of the Communications Workers of America, with the NLRB on behalf of Shannon Wait, a contractor who said she was illegally suspended after expressing her support for the union on Facebook.
The National Labor Relations Act prevents employers from prohibiting workers from discussing pay or working conditions.
"Within weeks of announcing our union, we were able to help a member who came to us after being suspended get her job back," Parul Koul, the executive chair of the Alphabet Workers Union, said in a release. "Now, in our third month, we've forced Google and its subcontractor to remind all workers at this center that they cannot trample on their rights."
Google workers have stepped up unionization and organizing efforts over the last few years. In January, more than 200 workers formed the Alphabet Workers Union following years of unrest, including the recent firing of AI researcher Dr. Timnit Gebru. International Google formed a union alliance called Alpha Global, part of the UNI Global Union, in January.
Google was not immediately available for additional comment.