A senior Google employee has told a London employment tribunal that she was made redundant after reporting a manager for sexual misconduct, with the company accused of retaliation following an internal investigation that led to the manager being dismissed.
Victoria Woodall, who worked as a senior industry head in Google’s UK Sales and Agencies team, said she faced a campaign of retaliation after she raised concerns about a male manager who, according to court documents, had told clients about his swinger lifestyle, showed a nude image of his wife, and touched colleagues without consent. Google denies the claim and says Woodall became “paranoid” after whistleblowing and began to interpret normal management actions as hostile.
Allegations That Triggered The Investigation
Woodall said she was first contacted in August 2022 by a female client who described a business lunch where the manager boasted about the number of black women he had had sex with, said he and his wife were swingers, and described having sex with two women they met on a beach while on holiday. The client said the comments were unprompted and made in front of his line manager, who did not intervene. Court documents described the behaviour as “disgusting.”
Woodall reported the incident to Matt Bush, then managing director of Google’s agency team, and the company opened an internal investigation. While that investigation was ongoing, Woodall raised a second complaint from another female client who said the same manager had shown her a photograph of his wife’s vagina while scrolling through his phone.
Google interviewed 12 people as part of the inquiry and found further incidents that breached company policies. The investigation concluded that the manager had sexually harassed two female employees at a work event by touching one colleague’s leg and rubbing another colleague’s back and shoulders without their consent. It also found he had made inappropriate comments to staff, including telling a female colleague he had just met that he was in an open marriage and that if she had sex with him in a bathroom his wife would enjoy hearing about it.
The manager denied the allegations and said he did not believe he had told colleagues about being in an open relationship. Google dismissed him for gross misconduct. His line manager and another senior colleague were recommended for documented coaching for failing to intervene and were later made redundant.
Claims Of Retaliation And Workplace Culture
Woodall said her whistleblowing also implicated colleagues who were close to her boss and that, after her complaint, she was subjected to a “relentless campaign of retaliation.” She said she was pressured into swapping a successful client account for a failing one that had previously belonged to one of the disciplined colleagues, which she described as a “poisoned chalice” that left her vulnerable to redundancy.
She also said she was moved into a subordinate role on a major internal project that was led by the other senior manager implicated in the investigation. According to her claim, her performance was later downgraded and she faced further actions that she said were designed to undermine her position.
Her case also includes allegations of a “boys’ club” culture at Google, including that until December 2022 the company funded a men only “chairman’s lunch.” Google said an internal review found no such culture and that the event was ended because it no longer aligned with company policy.
Bush, in his witness statement, said he supported Woodall’s career and took gender equality and inclusion seriously. He said moving accounts between staff was standard practice.
Senior Leadership And Redundancy Process
In May 2023, Woodall said she raised her concerns with Debbie Weinstein, then vice president of Google UK and Ireland, after learning that HR was worried about the treatment of women on the team. Court documents show Weinstein messaged HR after the meeting, writing: “Just met Vicki [Woodall]. Holy moly. Want to get you for 10 mins today.”
In November 2023, as Google prepared for a wider reorganisation, Woodall claims there was a final effort to remove her from the agency team. Messages submitted to the tribunal show Weinstein told Dyana Najdi, Google’s managing director for UK and Ireland advertising, to “keep pushing” for a process that included Woodall’s team and to “use this as a chance to exit people.”
In March 2024, Woodall was made redundant alongside the second senior manager involved in the misconduct case. She remains employed by Google and is receiving long term sickness payments for work related stress, according to her claim.
Google said Woodall’s role was one of 26 removed as part of a broader restructuring. The company denies retaliating against her for whistleblowing and says Weinstein was supportive and initiated a review of the team’s culture. It accepts that Woodall’s report of the manager amounted to whistleblowing but says all subsequent decisions were normal business actions.
A ruling from the London Central Employment Tribunal is expected in the coming weeks.
Featured image credits: Flickr
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