Google says it will no longer enforce mandatory arbitration for current and future employees starting March 21; change won't apply to many temporary staff
conditioning civil rights on how much societal power workers in any one company have—isn't enough. It's time for Congress to #EndForcedArbitration. http://twitter.com/... Liz Fong-Jones / @lizthegrey : What about people who are still mid-arbitration over discrimination/retaliation claims prior to March 21? The company *still* isn't being clear about whether it'll allow them to have their day in court. I get that Google don't want to re-open existing settlements, but... http://twitter.com/... Nitasha Tiku / @nitashatiku : this policy improvement, like the others, will not apply to temps, contractors, vendors. ..but have to say class action waiver is maybe the last thing i thought google would drop. today's changes are huge compared to the post-walkout harassment policy tweaks Liz Fong-Jones / @lizthegrey : It also doesn't protect former employees such as myself who might hypothetically file claims, nor does it protect anyone Google might terminate between now and a month from now. Meredith Whittaker / @mer__edith : Collective action works. Google ends forced arbitration for *all* employee disputes. http://www.axios.com/... David McCabe / @dmccabe : If you are a current Google employee with a claim in mandatory arbitration, and you are still employed there on March 21, you can leave arbitration and sue instead. David McCabe / @dmccabe : New: Google is ending forced arbitration next month for any disputes it has with *it's employees.* The change does not apply in the same blanket way to contractors, vendors and temporary employees. http://www.axios.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the second step in a retreat Google began last November, when it made arbitration optional only for individual sexual harassment claims. The interim move was Googlers for Ending Forced Arbitration's public awareness campaign, built with staff at other tech companies to show how broadly mandatory arbitration binds workers.
The new policy covers all claims for current and future employees from March 21 — but the description flags two gaps activists are already pressing: temporary staff, contractors, and vendors stay bound, and Liz Fong-Jones notes people mid-arbitration over discrimination or retaliation claims still don't know if they'll get their day in court.
First-order effects
- Google employees can now sue over any workplace dispute rather than being routed to closed-door arbitration, while the temps, contractors, and vendors who make up much of its workforce remain under the old terms.
- Employees with pending discrimination or retaliation arbitrations face continued uncertainty, since Google has not said whether it will reopen cases predating March 21.
Second-order effects
- Rival tech employers whose staff joined the January campaign now face direct pressure to match Google's all-claims carve-out or explain why their workers keep less legal recourse.
- The exclusion of contingent workers sharpens scrutiny of Google's two-tier labor model, compounding earlier friction such as the [[a:937891|FOIA revelation that it urged the Labor Board to drop an Obama-era protection for organizing over work email]].
Third-order effects
- If other large tech employers follow, mandatory arbitration could survive mainly for the contingent workforce — making litigation rights a marker of employment class rather than company policy.
- The activist framing in the coverage — calls on Congress to #EndForcedArbitration — points toward federal legislation as the endgame if voluntary corporate carve-outs keep leaving contractors behind.
The trend: Tech worker activism is converting one-off harassment reforms into company-wide arbitration opt-outs, while pushing the fight over forced arbitration toward Congress and exposing the contractor divide.