A former Google executive claims in a lawsuit that he was fired for turning down a higher-ranking female executive’s unwanted advances. According to the lawsuit, a Google HR representative “openly admitted … that if the complaint was ‘in reverse’ — a female accusing a white male of harassment — the complaint would certainly be escalated.”
The New York Post reports that Ryan Olohan, a 48-year-old married father of seven who worked as the managing director of food, beverages, and restaurants at Google, claims in a lawsuit that Tiffany Miller, the company’s director of programmatic media, fired him after touching him inappropriately at a company dinner in December 2019.
Olohan alleges that Miller complimented his physique, and told him that her marriage lacked “spice.” The groping incident allegedly happened during a drunken business gathering at a restaurant in Chelsea.
Olohan initially felt awkward discussing the incident because so many of his coworkers were intoxicated, but his coworkers later explained the behavior as “Tiffany being Tiffany,” according to the lawsuit that was filed on November 30 in Manhattan. Olohan claimed that after reporting the problem to Google’s human resources division, nothing ever came of the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, the HR representative “openly admitted … that if the complaint was ‘in reverse’ — a female accusing a white male of harassment — the complaint would certainly be escalated.”
Miller allegedly chastised Olohan in front of his coworkers during a Google-hosted event in December 2021 as part of the retaliation. According to the lawsuit, the tension was so high that coworkers encouraged him to sit at the other end of the table.
Miller later apologized, but according to the lawsuit, “Google once again took no action despite knowing that Miller’s ongoing harassment of Olohan was caused by his rejection of her sexual advances.”
Court documents state that Miller repeatedly reprimanded Olohan while intoxicated at a company gathering at a karaoke bar in April 2022, mocking him upon his arrival and repeating her knowledge that he preferred Asian women to white women based on the fact that Olohan’s wife is Asian.
Olohan claimed he started to experience increasing pressure from his manager, who complained that his management team consisted of “obviously too many white guys.” According to the lawsuit, in July, he was urged to fire a male employee to make room on his team for a female. After working for Google for 16 years, Olohan was fired the following month.
Olohan claimed that during a videoconference call, a member of the Google Employee Investigations team informed him that he was being fired for not being “inclusive.” Olohan was informed that he had shown favoritism toward high-performing employees and that he was “ableist” for making remarks about other employees’ “walking pace” when he questioned why he was not inclusive.
In his lawsuit, Olohan has accused Google and Miller of discrimination, retaliation, and creating a hostile work environment. It seeks unspecified damages from each defendant.
These allegations have been made against Google before. The business has previously come under fire for its handling of sexual harassment cases and for promoting a toxic workplace environment.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan