Google employee made redundant after reporting sexual harassment, court hears

A senior Google employee has claimed he was fired after reporting a manager who told customers stories about his swinger lifestyle and showed a nude photo of his wife.

Victoria Woodall told the employment tribunal she was subjected to a campaign of retaliation by the company after she reported the man, who was later sacked.

Google UK’s internal investigation found that the manager touched two female colleagues without their consent, a behavior that amounted to sexual harassment, according to documents seen by the BBC in court.

The tech giant denies retaliating against Woodall and claims Woodall became “paranoid” after the tip and began to view normal business activities as “bad.”

In her claim, Woodall said her own boss subjected her to a “relentless campaign of retaliation” after her complaint included close friends, who were subsequently disciplined for witnessing the manager’s behavior and failing to challenge it.

The claim also included Woodall’s allegations of a “boys club” culture; this includes funding Google’s men-only “presidential lunch” through December 2022.

Google said an internal investigation found no such culture and that the activity was terminated because it no longer complied with its policies.

The Central London Employment Tribunal is expected to make a decision in the coming weeks.

Woodall worked as senior industry head in Google’s UK Sales and Agencies team.

Allegedly, in August 2022, he was contacted by a female customer who said that during a business lunch, a manager on the team boasted about the number of black women he had had sex with.

He said “he and his wife were swingers” and also described how they had sex with two women they met on the beach while on holiday, according to summary notes of the investigation submitted to the court by Google.

The customer said the conversation was spontaneous and took place in front of the line manager, who did nothing to stop him, describing his behavior as “disgusting” in court documents.

Woodall reported the client’s concerns to his boss, Matt Bush, then managing director of the agency team, and Google launched an internal investigation into the executive’s conduct, it added.

While that investigation was ongoing, Woodall received a second complaint from another female customer, who allegedly claimed the same manager showed her a “picture of his wife’s vagina” while scrolling through photos on his phone.

Google interviewed 12 people as part of its investigation and uncovered other incidents of sexual harassment that violated company policies, according to emails, notes and a copy of the report filed in court.

The manager allegedly sexually harassed two female employees during a work event, allegedly touching a colleague’s leg during a conversation and rubbing the back and shoulders of another colleague without either of their consent.

Google also found he made inappropriate comments to staff, including telling a female colleague he was meeting for the first time that he was in an open marriage and that his “wife would love to hear about it if he had sex with her in the bathroom.”

According to the report, the manager denied the allegations during Google’s investigation and said he did not think he had shared with his colleagues that he had an open relationship with his wife.

Court documents show he was dismissed for gross misconduct, while his line manager and another senior colleague were recommended for “documented coaching” for their failure to intervene. They were both subsequently dismissed.

Woodall claims that shortly after she reported the sexual harassment in 2022, her boss, Matt Bush, gave her “very little choice” but to replace her successful client account with a failing one – which by the point had belonged to one of her two colleagues, and who would later be disciplined following her reporting.

The court heard he described the move as a “poisoned chalice” that left him vulnerable to dismissal.

He says he was then relegated to a secondary role on a large internal project supporting another senior executive whose report had involved him. Her boss then allegedly tried to lower her performance, among other acts of retaliation.

In his witness statement, Bush said he had always supported Woodall’s career and took promoting inclusivity and gender equality in hiring and promotions very seriously, and that regularly moving accounts between teams was standard practice.

According to court documents, Google began a firing process in 2023 that resulted in the departure of her boss and one of her top executives who failed to report sexual harassment.

In May of that year, Woodall took his concerns about the boys’ club culture and the retaliation he was facing to higher-ups in the organization.

In his witness statement he said he spoke to Debbie Weinstein, then vice president of Google UK and Ireland, after hearing from an HR colleague that she was concerned about the team and women’s experiences.

Following the debate, Weinstein, now president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, appeared shocked by Woodall’s claims. Court documents show he texted an HR member: “I just met Vicki [Woodall]. Holy moly. I want to meet you for 10 minutes today.”

Then in November 2023, as Google prepared for a broader restructuring and layoff process, Woodall claimed a final attempt was being made to remove him from the agency team.

That month, Weinstein texted Dyana Najdi, Google’s general manager of advertising for the UK and Ireland, saying: “Keep trying to figure out how you can get an agency involved process going.” [Woodall’s team]… I should use this as a chance to get rid of people,” according to messages of their conversations submitted to the court.

In March 2024, Woodall was dismissed along with the second senior executive involved in the misconduct investigation, but she continues to work for the company, receiving long-term sick pay due to work-related stress, she claims.

Google denies Woodall was dismissed for whistleblowing, adding in her defense that her role was one of 26 people on the team and that the wider department was closed.

It disputes the allegation that Weinstein tried to fire Woodall by saying she was too supportive of him and launched an investigation into the culture of the agency team.

The company acknowledges that Woodall’s report on the executive accused of misconduct was an act of whistleblowing, but denies any retaliation against her, saying subsequent events were entirely normal business decisions.