‘Google executive favoured women staff over males,�?former employee claims in lawsuit

TOI Tech Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Apr 3, 2025, 19:13 IST

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Former Google employee Marco Meier has sued the company, alleging gender-based discrimination by senior executive Marta Martinez. The lawsuit claims that male employees were denied promotions, excluded from meetings, and systematically replaced by women.

‘Google executive favoured women staff over males,�?former employee claims in lawsuit

Former employee Marco Meier has filed a lawsuit against the company and one of its executives alleging discrimination against male employees. According to the suit, the Alphabet-owned tech major’s senior executive Marta Martinez led a campaign that targeted men to deny promotions, excluding them from meetings, and even gifting memberships to women-only professional organisations at Christmas. Meier, a former German pro-basketball player who worked on Google’s ads team for nearly 13 years and held roles including Global Business Leader and Head of Industry-Media Platforms, claims that male staff were labeled as “too aggressive and too competitive,�?resulting in their systematic marginalisation and eventual termination under false pretenses. The lawsuit contends that these actions amount to gender-based discrimination in violation of equal employment policies.

What the ex-employee said about Google’s senior executive

As per the lawsuit (seen by Dailywire), Meier, who is described as a "stellar employee," rose to become Head of Google Marketable Products �?Big 5 Agencies and secured one of the largest ad sales deals in the company’s history. However, he started facing issues when he began reporting to Martinez the lawsuit claims.
Under this executive, male employees were routinely interrupted during meetings, denied promotions and high-profile projects and often replaced with female staff, the lawsuit alleged. Meier further noted that while female employees typically received promotions within two years, it took him five-and-a-half years to achieve the same, despite receiving a strong endorsement from one of Google's top senior executives.

The lawsuit alleges that 14 people from Meier’s department were promoted to director positions, with 13 of those promotions going to women in 2022.
The suit also notes that when Meier began working under the executive in 2019, the team had seven male and two female team leads. Within four years, the makeup was reversed as the executive allegedly fired all but two male team leads—including Meier—and replaced them with women, justifying the changes by saying male employees were "too aggressive and too competitive.�?br/>In December 2021, the Martinez reportedly enrolled her team in the mentorship non-profit Step Up—designed exclusively toward girls—disregarding Meier and the other man on the team, the lawsuit further notes. In November 2022, Meier filed an HR complaint alleging gender discrimination, but claims that Google failed to properly investigate, leading to his reassignment.
During a subsequent transition meeting, Martinez was accused of falsely portraying Meier’s performance, claiming he did not meet goals and abandoned his employees, leaving him visibly upset. In a later meeting, she allegedly remarked that the women on his team demonstrated superior leadership skills, Meier highlighted.
After filing a second HR complaint in August 2023, Meier was terminated on April 17, 2024. Although Google cited corporate restructuring as the reason, the lawsuit asserts that his role was not eliminated but replaced by an inexperienced woman.

What Google said about the lawsuit

Responding to these allegations, a Google spokesperson said to Fox News that the company "hires the best people for the job."
“We thoroughly reviewed these allegations more than once and found them to be completely meritless and misleading. We have a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and retaliation and do not promote or make role elimination decisions based on gender, period,�?the Google spokesperson said in a statement.

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