Fired Google Leftists Sue Company for Breaching 'Don't Be Evil' Code by Working with Border Patrol

Three former Google employees who were fired after protesting the company’s relationship with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are suing the Masters of the Universe, claiming that the company broke its “don’t be evil” code of conduct.

Vice News reports that three former Google employees sued Google this week, alleging that the company violated the “Don’t Be Evil,” clause in its code of conduct after it fired the three employees for protesting the firm’s relationship with CBP.

Google boss Sundar Pichai is masked up ( Drew Angerer /Getty)

Google walkout protest (Bryan R. Smith/Getty)

The engineers allege that they were fired for protesting Google’s decision to sell cloud computing software to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during the Trump administration. The employees circulated a company-wide petition that requested that Google promise not to work with CBP or ICE.

The complaint alleges that the former employees saw Google’s work with CBP under the Trump administration as “evil” and by circulating a petition calling for the company to end its relationship with CBP were simply upholding Google’s mandate to call out unethical conduct.

“Rivers, Waldman and Duke each engaged in activities consistent with Google’s ‘Don’t be evil’ contractual obligation,” the lawsuit states. “Specifically, they questioned Google management regarding its intent to enter into a contract with the Trump administration’s Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and/or Office of Refugee Resettlement agencies.”

Google used “Don’t Be Evil,” as its motto for years but moved away from the phrase after rebranding as Alphabet in 2015. However, “Don’t Be Evil” remains part of the company’s official employee code of conduct, which states in its final line: “Remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!” Employees sign the contract as a condition of their employment at the tech giant.

The lawsuit alleges that Google breached its contract with the employees after firing them within minutes of each other on November 25, 2019. Google alleged that the workers were fired for leaking “confidential” information to the press and were engaged in “systematic searches” for information “outside the scope of the job.”