Google whistleblower tells tribunal she lost her job after reporting harassment

Google whistleblower tells tribunal she lost her job after reporting harassment

• Ex-Google worker says layoff came after she reported sexual harassment complaint
• Tribunal to rule if job loss was due to restructuring or whistleblowing retaliation
• Google denies retaliation, citing policies and broader restructuring as reasons.

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A former Google employee has told an employment tribunal that she believes she lost her job because she reported a complaint of sexual harassment involving her manager.

Victoria Woodall, who worked in a client-facing role, said she raised concerns after a female client approached her about the manager’s conduct. According to Woodall, the client said the manager had spoken about his sexual experiences during professional conversations, leaving her uncomfortable.

Woodall told the tribunal she passed on the complaint through internal channels because she felt it was the right thing to do. She said she expected the matter to be dealt with quietly and properly, and did not believe it would affect her own position at the company.

What followed, she claims, felt like a turning point. Woodall said she was taken off a strong-performing client account and moved to one that was already struggling. She described the change as unexpected and damaging, particularly in a role where performance metrics matter.

Not long after, Woodall was told that her role was being made redundant. In her evidence, she said she did not believe the decision was driven by business needs. Instead, she told the tribunal she felt she had been pushed out after raising an issue the company would rather not have dealt with.

Google has denied that her redundancy had anything to do with the complaint. The company has said the role was eliminated as part of a wider restructuring exercise and that retaliation is not tolerated. Google has also said it has clear policies for handling harassment complaints and protecting those who raise them.

The tribunal will now examine whether the redundancy was genuinely part of a business reorganisation or whether it was influenced by Woodall’s complaint. It will also look at whether the changes to her role after the report amounted to unfair treatment.

Cases like this are often difficult to prove either way. Employers are allowed to restructure, but they must be able to show that decisions were not connected to whistleblowing or protected disclosures. Much can depend on timing, internal communications and how similar roles were treated.

For Woodall, the hearing is about more than her own job. She told the tribunal the experience made her question whether employees are truly safe when they speak up. For Google, the case adds to ongoing scrutiny of how large companies respond when uncomfortable allegations surface from inside their own workforce.