Source: Business Insider
On Friday, June 24, Google sent an email to all its employees addressing the historic Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe vs. Wade this week. The companywide mail explained the staff in affected location that they can apply for relocations without any necessary explanation.
Fiona Cicconi, the Chief People Officer of Google specified in the email how this is a ‘profound change’ for the US that has a deep impact on everyone, specifically women. She noted how ‘Googlers can also apply for relocation’ without any explanation, with the ones overseeing the situation being fully aware of it. However, the message does not specify as to how many requests Google would approve of, and does not guarantee any definite approval.
Currently, the company is in the middle of assigning relocations for other workers. These are the ones who do not wish to return to their assigned in-person offices owing to the return-to-office memo of Google which initiated this April. Currently Google has 30 locations across the entire country. Moreover, Cicconi stated that the company would additionally provide ‘support sessions to workers in the next few days.
“Googlers can also apply for relocation without justification, and those overseeing this process will be aware of the situation.”
Evidently, this statement from the search giant comes as other companies like Amazon and Meta stated that would pay for workers to travel to access abortions. Mainly, if they reside in states where it is banned following the decision from the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, and want legally access the facility.
At the initial leak of the ruling, Google stated that it would give travel benefits for workers who would want to get abortion care in any other state. The search giant’s US benefits plan, along with health insurance plan for the workers even cover out-of-state medical producers. These are the ones that are not available where the particular employees lives and works.
When approached for comments on the developments, Google refused to respond. Additionally, it did not acknowledge requests for comments on its compliance with potential law enforcement requests for information users. In May, a team of 42 Democratic lawmakers pushed chief executive Sundar Pichai in a letter to suspend the collection of location information that could be utilised for the identification of people who are seeking abortions.
The full memo from Fiona Cicconi:
Hi everyone,
This morning the US Supreme Court issued a ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that rolls back Roe v. Wade.
This is a profound change for the country that deeply effects so many of us, especially women. Everyone will respond in their own way, whether that’s wanting space and time to process, speaking up, volunteering outside of work, not wanting to discuss it at all , or something else entirely. Please be mindful of what your co-worker many be feeling and, as always, treat each other with respect.
Equity is extraordinarily important to us as a company, and we share concerns about the impact this ruling will have on people’s health, lives and careers. We will keep working to make information on reproductive healthcare accessible across our products and continue our work to protect user privacy.
To support Googlers and their dependents, our US benefits plan and health insurance covers out-of-state medical procedures that are not available where an employee live and works. Googlers can also apply for relocation without justification, and those overseeing this process will be aware of the situation. If you need additional support, please connect 1:1 with a People Consultant.
We will be arranging support sessions for Googlers in the US in the coming days. These will be posted to Googler News.
Please don’t hesitate to lean on your Google community in the days ahead and continue to take good care of yourselves and each other.
