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- An ex-Googler is alleging sexual harassment and racism at the tech giant.
- Chloe Sledd appeared in a press conference with April Curley, a fellow ex-Googler also alleging racism there.
- Curley is the main plaintiff in a racial discrimination lawsuit filed against Google on Friday.
Another ex-Googler has spoken publicly about her allegations of racial discrimination against the tech giant, just days after a lawsuit was filed against the company.
Chloe Sledd appeared in a press conference live-streamed on Instagram alongside fellow ex-Googler April Curley and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented George Floyd’s family after he was killed in May 2020 by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Curley first came forward in December 2020 with her account of racial bias at the company and is the main plaintiff in the racial discrimination lawsuit seeking class-action status that was filed Friday against Google.
The lawsuit, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages and compensation for current and former Black Google employees, is alleging that “pursuant to its racially biased corporate culture, Google segregates its workforce and workplaces, which are permeated by a racially hostile work environment.”
Sledd said she moved out to Mountain View, California, for a full-time position at Google’s headquarters, working for the company from 2013 to 2016 according to her LinkedIn profile. But she said, “almost immediately, it was a nightmare.”
Sledd said a male colleague began to sexually harass her, sending sexually explicit messages to her via Google’s company messaging platform, such as what he would do to her sexually if given the chance. She said she was terrified of losing her job and said she took her concerns to a male friend and colleague, who told her that her aggressor was a good guy and to just ignore it.
When the alleged harasser continued his behavior toward her, Sledd said she went to HR. The department told her that kind of behavior wasn’t allowed at Google, Sledd said, but according to her, HR still questioned her over if her rapport with her alleged harasser was perhaps mutual.
Sledd also said she was verbally promised a promotion several times that would have had her managing seven associate-level employees but that the team then went with a white candidate who had far less experience than her.
Finally, she said there was “a deafening silence” internally after the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 as well as after Missouri resident Michael Brown’s killing, which led her to speak at a live, in-person all-hands meeting, where she was met with “audible sighing and booing” from her colleagues, per Sledd.
She also said she directly asked Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to show their support for the victims, but that they “both turned red and said nothing.”
Sledd said some workers bullied her on Google’s internal chat platform the next day, mocking her appearance and levying racist remarks at her.
“At that point, it was clear to me not only was Google allowing me to be sexually harassed by one man, but they were also going to let me get racially harassed by the company at large,” Sledd said.
She said management shortly after terminated her, citing issues with her performance, without severance pay.
Google did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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