Google may look into scrapping the labor practice of forced arbitration in the coming months. While tech workers haven’t often made the news for labor organization in the past, they have certainly been picking up the pace recently. November saw 20,000 Google employees walk out in protest of the tech giant’s handling of sexual misconduct cases. Since then, Google has made a few changes, but they fell short of organizer’s hopes, meaning the issue has yet to be settled.
Amid the recent controversy, the practice of forced arbitration has come front and center. In fact, the group “Googlers for Ending Forced Arbitration” is launching a public awareness campaign on the topic. Google applies the practice in the form of mandatory arbitration agreements, contractual clauses that prevent a conflict between two coworkers from making it to a judicial court. The practice is meant to keep the fallout from internal conflicts to a minimum, but critics and organizers have long complained that the practice forces victims of sexual harassment into the shadows. Google and the broader big tech world have made headlines for years now over their alleged mishandling of sexual misconduct claims.
Several big companies made forced arbitration optional in cases of sexual assault after November’s protests, but organizers are pushing to ban the practice entirely.
