{"id":396231,"date":"2026-03-21T07:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T07:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/396231\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T07:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T07:06:16","slug":"google-says-former-employee-trying-to-sully-tech-giants-name-in-race-bias-claim-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/396231\/","title":{"rendered":"Google says former employee trying to \u2018sully\u2019 tech giant\u2019s name in race bias claim \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawyers for Google<\/a> have said that a former employee is trying to \u201csully\u201d the tech giant\u2019s name by claiming he and two other black colleagues lost their jobs because of alleged racial discrimination in its performance management processes. <\/p>\n

Former accounts strategist Eyob Van Haute has brought a complaint under the Employment Equality Act, 1998 alleging discrimination on the grounds of his race, following his dismissal on performance grounds in July 2025. <\/p>\n

Van Haute told the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> (WRC) on Friday that he was put on the first of two performance improvement plans in 2025, despite scoring better than another colleague who wasn\u2019t subject to the same formal process. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think my dismissal was not the result of fair and consistent assessment of performance,\u201d Van Haute told the WRC. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m black. I was dismissed. The question is whether I was treated less favourably than equivalent colleagues,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Van Haute said he inherited a client portfolio worth between \u20ac7 million and \u20ac8 million with \u201cno handover\u201d from his predecessor, who had been on sabbatical, he said. <\/p>\n

\"\"The difficult choices that could dramatically increase housing supply in Dublin<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not stepping into active relationships, but situations where engagement had already declined,\u201d he said. Clients had not received support for \u201cone or more quarters\u201d from the previous incumbent, while some were \u201cunresponsive\u201d and \u201cno longer needed support\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

He said it was \u201cunachievable\u201d to meet a company target of engaging with 90 per cent of the clients assigned within a fortnight, but 15 of his 55 assigned clients were \u201cnot workable\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

Van Haute said that in quarter one of 2025 he secured an overall \u201ccore score\u201d of 93 per cent. He said a score below 90 per cent would have yielded a \u201clow performer\u201d classification \u2013 but he was nevertheless placed in a performance improvement plan (PIP), he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did not begin this process asserting discrimination \u2013 that emerged over time. I also became aware that multiple employees who exited the organisation under similar circumstances were black,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

When adjudication officer Orla Jones asked whether that was his evidence on the claim, Van Haute said it was. <\/p>\n

Barrister Rosemary Mallon, instructed by Colum Holland of Matheson solicitors for the respondent, moved an application that Jones move directly to conclude the taking of evidence and go straight to a decision.<\/p>\n

She argued that the complainant had \u201cfailed to bring a prima facie case\u201d before the tribunal on the basis of his direct evidence. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis direct evidence is, at its height, full of assertions, assumptions and presumptions, but backed up with no evidence. He made this wild accusation that other people of colour were treated the same way,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Mallon added that Van Haute had only given the first name of one alleged comparator and had not identified anyone he claimed had discriminated against him. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was on a PIP and then he went on to a second PIP and failed that while a probationary employee. He\u2019s unhappy, he\u2019s disgruntled with the outcome,\u201d Mallon said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not the only black person who was exited under similar circumstance,\u201d Van Haute said. He said his two comparators were not in the same protected category and had \u201cclearly had also not hit their target\u201d. <\/p>\n

Mallon objected and said: \u201cSorry, we\u2019re not getting into new evidence.\u201d <\/p>\n

With nearly 7,000 staff in Ireland, Van Haute \u201cmentions two black employees he\u2019s aware of that were dismissed\u201d, counsel said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t given names, he\u2019s just made this wide assertion claiming discrimination,\u201d she added. \u201cHe\u2019s engaging in historical revisionism in an attempt to sully the good name of the company, Google,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Jones said she needed more time to consider the application. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawyers for Google have said that a former employee is trying to \u201csully\u201d the tech giant\u2019s name by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,823,19,17,80,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-396231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-google","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-work","14":"tag-workplace-relations-commission"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116265902553587913","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}