Plaintiff “John Doe,” a project manager at Google, sued the company in California State Court, claiming they illegally require employees to sign broad confidentiality agreements. Doe filed the complaint in the California Superior Court of San Francisco County on December 20, 2016.
The agreements essentially state that Google employees cannot disclose any company information that is not generally known with anyone, including other Google employees. According to the complaint, these confidentiality agreements are contrary to state law because they can prevent employees from discussing their wages or disclosing information to government agencies. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that Google enforces its confidentiality policy through an internal program called “Stopleaks” which essentially asks employees to spy on each other and report any disclosure of confidential information.
Google defends the confidentiality agreements as an attempt to protect sensitive company information and maintains it is committed to maintaining an open culture within the company.
The case is Doe vs. Google Inc. et al., Docket No. CGC16556034 (Cal. Super. Ct. Dec. 20, 2016). A copy of Doe’s complaint can be found here: http://tsi.brooklaw.edu/cases/doe-vs-google-inc-et-al/filings/employee-sues-google-overbroad-confidentiality-agreements