Google reached a settlement with Chelsey Glasson, a former manager who alleged she was retaliated against for standing up for a pregnant co-worker and that higher-ups tried to push her out of the company when she became pregnant.
Glasson declined to provide details about the settlement when contacted by GeekWire. We reached out to Google for comment.
Glasson, based in Seattle and now working for real estate giant Compass, filed complaints in 2019 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Washington state’s Human Rights Commission. She then sued Google in 2020, claiming that Google violated a state law against discrimination.
Glasson is a mother of two and worked at Google in the Seattle area for five years, rising to the level of user research lead and manager before resigning in August 2019. She was behind the then-anonymous memo that went viral within the company “I’m Not Returning to Google After Maternity Leave, and Here is Why.”
Google told Glasson it did not find evidence of pregnancy discrimination, which led to her filing the lawsuit, The Guardian reported last year.
The tech industry has been under a microscope for issues of discrimination in recent years. Amazon is facing multiple discrimination lawsuits. Microsoft’s board in January approved outside review of its harassment and discrimination policies.
In 2020 Google parent Alphabet agreed to a settlement that included a $310 million commitment to diversity programs after shareholders criticized the company’s handling of employee complaints of sexual misconduct and discrimination.
In 2018 Google employees worldwide staged a series of walkouts protesting how the company has dealt with sexual harassment cases.
“When this is all said and done fighting Google will have cost me three years of my life, $100,000 in legal bills, and my mental health,” Glasson tweeted in October. “As my experiences highlight, Google is the exact same company it was before the Google Walkout. Nothing has changed.”
Glasson also said she experienced sexual harassment at a 2014 offsite gathering in Cabo, according to a Medium post she published in 2020.
In a LinkedIn post, Glasson said her focus is now healing. She shared learnings from her experience, including: “have a contingency career plan so you’re never stuck in an abusive work environment.”
After leaving Google, Glasson spent more than a year at Facebook as a staff user researcher. She joined Compass in January 2021.
Glasson earlier this year testified in support of a Washington state bill aiming to limit what companies can include in non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements.