New lawsuit accuses Google of discrimination for laying off employees on parental leave

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court accuses Google of discriminating against new parents, alleging the tech giant targeted employees on parental leave during a round of layoffs in 2023.

Paula Byrne, who had worked for the company since 2010, claims she was laid off while on parental leave after giving birth to her daughter, Isabella, in June 2023. Byrne, was informed of her layoff not by her employer but by her peers.

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"I was really, really shocked and to hear who else was being laid off as well," Byrne said. According to the lawsuit, five out of seven employees selected for termination from Byrne's team, and two from an adjacent team, were either on, had recently taken, or were about to take parental leave. In contrast, the six employees who kept their jobs did not have young children.

Byrne's lead attorney, Tracy Lemmon, stated that her client had wanted to stay at Google but was replaced by someone allegedly younger and without children. Lemmon noted that Google's culture seems to favor younger employees without families, saying, "Google definitely has a youth culture, hire young, promote young and don't have a whole lot of senior managers with families. That's what we'll find out in this lawsuit."

Liz Morris of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Law SF highlighted that there are protections in place for men and women under the California Family Rights Act and Family Medical Leave Act. "In the case of a large layoff, it may be that some people on maternity leave are let go. But when you start to see disparate numbers where everyone who was let go was on maternity leave and everyone who stayed was not, that starts to seem like there's something illegal going on," Morris said.

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Google has denied the allegations, stating, "We completely disagree with these claims. We have zero tolerance for discrimination and take all concerns very seriously." A Google spokesperson added that reorganizations and role eliminations are part of normal business operations and are based solely on business needs.

Byrne, a single mom now without health insurance and unable to land a similar role, has moved to the United Kingdom for more affordable healthcare. She hopes the lawsuit will be worth it for her and others.

"I'd love to see them change their processes so there aren't so many parents and women put in this situation," Byrne said.