Google employees stage walkout over the company's handling of sexual harassment scandals

Google employees worldwide are protesting the company on Thursday by staging walkouts, CNN reports.

These walkouts are primarily over Google's handling of sexual harassment scandals, and they follow a New York Times report that multiple top executives were protected, given large payouts, or kept on after being accused of sexual misconduct. In one case, Android creator Andy Rubin was allowed to resign with a $90 million payout, even though Google found a sexual misconduct claim against him to be credible. Rubin denied the allegations. Another executive named in the piece as having been accused of sexual harassment, Richard DeVaul, left days after it was published.

Employees staging the walkouts are looking for some real changes from Google, including the end of forced arbitration for victims of harassment and discrimination, BBC reports. Other demands include a commitment to equal pay and opportunity, changes to the sexual harassment reporting process, and a publicly-disclosed sexual harassment transparency report.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in an email that he is "fully committed to making progress on an issue that has persisted for far too long in our society."