Updated 12:40pm
Google workers around the world are staging walkout protests today over the treatment of women at the company and the firm's handling of misconduct allegations.
Staff at the tech giant's Dublin office are among those who have been taking part.
Hundreds of workers walked out at the company's EU headquarters this morning for the 45 minute demonstration.
Staff stage walkout at Google's Dublin offices. Image: Stephanie Rohan.
A worker named Kate addressed the gathered crowd, saying: "I decided to coordinate this Dublin gathering, as one of the many Google sites that are walking out today... in solidarity with anybody who has experienced any form of sexual harassment or misconduct in our workplace."
Today's demonstrations comes in a wake of a New York Times report last week, which claimed that a senior staff member - Android creator Andy Rubin - had left the company with a $90 million payout despite a 'credible' accusation of sexual misconduct from a female employee.
Mr Rubin has denied the accusation.
1/2 The New York Times story contains numerous inaccuracies about my employment at Google and wild exaggerations about my compensation. Specifically, I never coerced a woman to have sex in a hotel room. These false allegations are part of a smear campaign
— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) October 26, 2018
The report claimed that two other executives had been 'protected' by the company after sexual misconduct allegations.
It was also emerged that the company has fired 48 people over sexual harassment allegations over the last two years, with the company insisting none had been paid exit packages.
Yesterday, it was reported that Richard DeVaul, a senior executive at Alphabet's (Google's parent company) research lab, has resigned after being accused of sexual misconduct.
'Reassuring PR won't cut it'
Google workers in Dublin have walked off the job for an hour over the company’s treatment of women pic.twitter.com/mThRCxzJTO
— Stephanie Rohan (@StephGrogan3) November 1, 2018
Staff organising today's protest said they were "disgusted by the details" reported in the New York Times.
In a statement, the group behind the demonstration said: "While Google has championed the language of diversity and inclusion, substantive actions to address systemic racism, increase equity, and stop sexual harassment have been few and far between.
"Reassuring PR won't cut it: we need transparency, accountability, and structural change."
They are demanding the introduction of a number of measures - including a commitment to end pay and opportunity inequality; a publicly disclosed sexual harassment transparency report; an employee representative on the company's board; and a "clear, uniform, globally inclusive" process for reporting sexual misconduct safely and anonymously.
BBC reports that workers who choose to walk out will leave a message on their desks stating: "I’m not at my desk because I’m walking out with other Googlers and contractors to protest sexual harassment, misconduct, lack of transparency, and a workplace culture that’s not working for everyone."
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told staff that they have the company's support if they wish to participate in today's demonstration.
He said: "Employees have raised constructive ideas for how we can improve our policies and our processes going forward. We are taking in all their feedback so we can turn these ideas into action."
