Google fires staffer, suspends two others, amid rising workplace tensions

Enlarge / Google's main headquarters. (credit: Cyrus Farivar)

Google has fired a staffer who allegedly leaked the names of Google employees and their personal details to the news media, Ryan Gallagher reports in a scoop for Bloomberg News. Two other Googlers have been put on leave for violating company policies, Google told Gallagher.

A Google spokeswoman told Gallagher that one of the employees "had searched for and shared confidential documents outside the scope of their job, while the other tracked the individual calendars of staff working in the community platforms, human resources, and communications teams." The tracking made affected staff uncomfortable, the spokeswoman said.

Google's move represents the latest sign of growing tensions between labor and management at Google. Until recently, Google was known for having one of Silicon Valley's most open workplace cultures. Employees could access information about projects they weren't working on. Rank-and-file employees could ask tough questions of senior management at weekly "TGIF" meetings that were broadcast throughout the company.

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