ICYMI: GOOGLE UNDER FIRE OVER DIVERSITY

A former Google executive on Thursday unleashed a barrage of criticism over the tech giant’s diversity efforts, painting Google as hypocritical and insincere over its public claims that it is trying to cultivate an inclusive workplace.

Ross LaJeunesse, a trusted Google veteran who launched a bid for Sen. Susan Collins’s (R-Maine) seat after the company allegedly pushed him out last year, is publicly criticizing Google for disregarding his complaints about the mistreatment of minority employees during his decade-long tenure.

LaJeunesse penned a Medium op-ed divulging his struggles at Google on Thursday, making him the most senior executive yet to publicly raise concerns about retaliation and mistreatment at the Silicon Valley behemoth. He is claiming that he was effectively fired after pushing for a human rights framework within the company for years. In a statement, a Google spokeswoman said LaJeunesse’s former job was “eliminated as part of the broad reorganization of our policy team,” which affected many employees.

The stories from LaJeunesse come as Google is facing an escalating wave of allegations and multiple labor complaints from employees who say they were punished for engaging in employee activism at the company.

In a follow-up interview with The Hill on Thursday, LaJeunesse detailed several instances in which he said Google’s expansive human resources department disregarded his reports about racist comments and insensitive exercises. Ultimately, he says Google pushed him out of his job.

“There was no other way of explaining what had happened to me, other than my consistent advocacy for human rights,” LaJeunesse said.