These are serious allegations made by Victoria Woodall, a senior industry head in Google’s UK Sales and Agencies team. She alleges she was subject to retaliation after she blew the whistle on wrongdoing by a manager. Her case has raised the profile of workplace culture and tech giant’s treatment of sexual harassment complaints.
The outrage sparked when Woodall haphazardly lodged an internal complaint against her manager for unwanted sexual advances. Investigations eventually found that he had sexually harassed two female staffers at a work event. According to reports, the manager retaliated by reassigning unwelcome physical contact. They groped one staffer’s thigh and massaged another colleague’s back and shoulders — both without consent. After Woodall reported this incident to Google’s Human Resources, the company launched an internal investigation of the manager’s behavior.
The resulting investigation, based on interviews with the 12 people counted as touching, confirmed that the manager in question had breached company sexual harassment practices. It uncovered a pattern of other abusive behavior, creating a toxic workplace culture filled with oppression and fear.
In response to her complaint, Woodall claims that her new direct-report—that of District Engineer Matt Bush—began a “hostile and continuous campaign of retaliation.” She accused him of pressuring her to trade in her profitable client portfolio for a non-performing account. She’s painted a troubling “boys’ club” culture at Google. For example, he noted that the company still paid for a men’s-only “chairman’s lunch” fund up until December 2022.
Woodall recounted how the manager bragged about his sexual escapades while dealing with a female customer. He bragged about having sex with more than a dozen black women. She painted a picture of an environment where lewd comments were the norm.
In response to this lawsuit, Google has vigorously denied all claims that they retaliated against Woodall. In fact, the company claims that after blowing the whistle, she got “paranoid.” In an effort to address Woodall’s concerns, Debbie Weinstein, who was then vice president of Google UK and Ireland, met with her to discuss the issues raised.
“Holy moly. Want to get you for 10 mins today” – Debbie Weinstein
Despite these discussions, Woodall’s situation deteriorated. In March 2024, she was “let go” with another senior manager also associated with the misconduct probe. She is still on Google’s payroll and is now getting long-term sickness payments after work-related stress took her out.
The incidents leading up to Woodall’s complaint have opened a dialogue about how whistleblowers are treated. Its obvious failings have brought scrutiny to the validity of these internal investigations, as well as the protection – or lack thereof – afforded to whistleblowers.
Google has not publicly addressed the specific allegations Woodall raised about workplace culture and retaliation. The case continues to develop as new facts emerge. In the meantime, the tech industry continues to ignore these broader problems of harassment and employee safety.