"Google settles with labor board over allegations it suppressed employees' speech in the workplace", 12 September 2019

Google on Thursday announced it had settled with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over allegations that it suppressed its employees from speaking out in the workplace.

Under the settlement, Google will remind all of its workers that they have the right to unionize, act in concert with other employees to push for benefits, bargain with their employer and more..."We have agreed to a proposed settlement..." a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "Under that settlement, we have agreed to post a notice to our employees reminding them of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act."

The settlement resolves a complaint from ex-Google engineer Kevin Cernekee, who claimed Google violated his right to band together with other employees to protest workplace conditions, as well as an NLRB complaint from an anonymous Google worker who said he faced retaliation for speaking negatively about a higher-up online.

It also emerges amid a whirlwind of allegations from current and former Google employees who claim the company has been curtailing workers' rights to free speech following a wave of employee activism over Google's working conditions and its ethics decisions...