Alphabet’s board of directors has opened an investigation into how executives at the company have handled misconduct claims, CNBC reported earlier today after viewing materials that it says show an independent subcommittee has been formed — and a law firm hired — to look into the issues.
One of the subjects of those claims is the company’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, whose long-ago extramarital affair with an employee was first surfaced in a story by The Information in 2017, one day after the outlet reported that another former executive, Android creator Andy Rubin, had left the company after an internal investigation determined that he had carried on an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. Rubin, who has since cofounded the consumer electronic products startup Essential, has consistently denied any wrongdoing, but it infuriated Google employees who learned nearly a year later in a New York Times investigation that he’d negotiated a $90 million severance pay package on his way out the door. He wasn’t the only executive who was paid by Google after being accused of sexual harassment. Former senior search vice president Amit Singhal was also accused of sexual harassment, deciding to leave the company in his 15th year with Google as it was looking into the incident, reportedly. Singhal, who has also denied any wrongdoing, was given a payout that ultimately amounted to $15 million. Both payouts were approved by Google’s Leadership Development and Compensation Committee. Today, that committee is helmed by investors John Doerr and Ram Shriram, along with GIlead Sciences CFO Robin Washington, though Washington was only brought onto Alphabet’s board in April. Other employees have also accused the company of not doing enough to stop sexual harassment in previous years, including a former Google engineer who announced on Twitter in 2015 that she was long sexually harassed by management at Google and that the company, despite her complaints, did nothing about it and even supported her harassers. Why the company has waited until now to take action isn’t clear but it seems likely that fresh accusations against Drummond are at least part of the driver. It was in August that his former colleague, Jennifer Blakely — who was in a