Google not paying for approved maternity leave, claims laid-off employees

Google, which laid off around 6 per cent of its total workforce in January, is reportedly adopting more cost-cutting measures, like not making payment for maternity and medical leaves which it approved to its former employees. 

As per a report published by CNBC, all the former employees of Google who were sacked while they were on their medical or maternity leave have claimed that the tech giant is not paying them for their approved leaves. 

A group called "Laid off on Leave" has been joined by more than 100 former employees who are demanding the employer compensate them for the long-duration leaves which were approved by the company before the job cuts were announced in January. 

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According to the report, the former employees have been told by the tech giant that the company will pay their salary only till their designated end date along with the standard severance.

Three letters have been sent by the group of former employees to executives, which includes CEO Sundar Pichai and Chief People Officer Fiona Cicconi, but no response has been received so far. 

The group comprises people who were sanctioned or are currently on medical leave, baby bonding leave, personal leave, maternity leave and caregiver’s leave. 

In January, Google announced mass layoffs which affected 12,000 employees or around 6 per cent of its total workforce due to the declining sales growth after extending its expansion period in the tech sector. 

After the announcement that the company is planning to fire 12,000 employees, around 1,400 employees of Alphabet Inc, which is the parent company of Google, signed a petition demanding employees' better treatment during the layoff process. 

Employees wrote an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai in which they demanded prioritising voluntary redundancies over forced ones, giving laid-off workers priority on open vacancies, allowing workers to complete their approved leave periods, such as bereavement and parental leave and freezing new hires.

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