Google CEO reveals 48 employees were fired for sexual misconduct

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday sent an email to company employees admitting Google fired 48 people, including management, during the last two years for sexual harassment.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday sent an email to company employees admitting Google fired 48 people, including management, for sexual harassment in the last two years.

The email, provided to Fox News by a Google spokesperson, stated Google is "dead serious about making sure we provide a safe and inclusive workplace." It was sent to all Google employees after The New York Times reported the company rewarded Android creator Andy Rubin a $90 million exit package after he was accused of sexual misconduct with an employee.

GOOGLE REPORTEDLY PAID ANDROID CREATOR $90M AFTER SEX MISCONDUCT CLAIM

Pichai said Google has made several changes in recent years that included firing the dozens of people for sexual harassment, "including 13 who were senior managers and above." None of those included in that number received an exit package from Google, he said.

The email, also signed by Eileen Naughton, vice president of people operations, encouraged company employees to report harassment or "share any inappropriate behavior you experience or see," and noted that reports can be made anonymously.

Pichai added that Google had updated its policy to ensure vice presidents and senior vice presidents "disclose any relationship with a co-worker regardless of reporting line or presence of conflict."

"There are serious consequences for anyone who behaves inappropriately," the email concluded.

Two company executives told the Times that Rubin had been having an affair with a Google employee who alleged he forced her into "performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013." Google reportedly found the employee's accusation credible, and Google's CEO at the time, Larry Page, asked Rubin to resign.

After his resignation, Google reportedly provided Rubin with a $90 million exit package to be paid out in monthly installments of roughly $2 million for four years.