Dalit civil rights activist accuses Google of casteist, hostile workplace practices

An Indian-American employee of Google has resigned in protest.

A U.S.-based Dalit civil rights organisation on Thursday accused Google of having a casteist and hostile workplace practices.

However, Google has denied the allegations.

“Caste discrimination has no place in our workplace. We also have a very clear, publicly shared policy against retaliation and discrimination in our workplace,” Google spokesperson Shannon Newberry told The Washington Post, which was the first to report about such an alleged work practice inside the company.

An Indian-American employee of Google has resigned in protest.

In a statement, Equality Labs, the leading Dalit civil rights organisation dedicated to caste equity, alleged that Google management revealed its lack of caste competence and endangered its employees as they allowed caste bigotry and harassment to run rampant in the company.

As reported by The Washington Post, Equality Labs’ executive director, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, faced discriminatory claims within Google that led to the cancellation of a Google News diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) talk on caste for April’s Dalit History Month.

“During this time, opponents to caste equity internally circulated disinformation about Soundararajan and Equality Labs to derail the civil rights event until its ultimate cancellation,” Equality Labs said in a statement.