A former video producer for Google has settled a lawsuit that claimed he was fired after he complained {that a} non secular sect had gained a foothold inside a business unit of the corporate.
Kevin Lloyd, 34, mentioned within the swimsuit that he had been fired after complaining that the Fellowship of Friends, a non secular group based mostly within the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, dominated a enterprise unit referred to as Google Developer Studios, which makes movies showcasing the corporate’s applied sciences.
The swimsuit claimed that the chief of the enterprise unit — Peter Lubbers, a longtime member of the Fellowship of Friends — employed many of the non secular group’s members onto the workforce as contractors, helped some advance to full-time positions and gave work to many others when staffing firm conferences and events.
Google confirmed on Monday that the swimsuit had been resolved. It additionally confirmed that Mr. Lubbers was now not employed by Google, although it declined to elucidate his departure. Mr. Lubbers couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
Mr. Lloyd final 12 months introduced the swimsuit in opposition to each Google and Advanced Systems Group, or ASG, a staffing firm that introduced him into Google as a contractor. It accused each firms of violating a California employment legislation that protects staff from discrimination.
The swimsuit raised questions on Google’s dependence on contract staff, who now outnumber full-time staff inside the corporate. Most of Mr. Lloyd’s workforce joined the corporate by ASG as contractors, together with many members of the Fellowship.
Mr. Lloyd agreed to settle the swimsuit final week. Terms of the settlement — which was between Mr. Lloyd and ASG — weren’t disclosed.
Founded by a former schoolteacher named Robert Earl Burton in 1970, the Fellowship of Friends describes itself as “available to anyone interested in pursuing the spiritual work of awakening.” It claims about 1,500 members around the globe, together with roughly 500 in and round Oregon House, Calif., a tiny city about 180 miles north of Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters.
Mr. Burton believed individuals may obtain a better consciousness by embracing the fantastic arts. Over the a long time, he cultivated an extravagant way of life with assist from his followers, who typically donated 10 % of their month-to-month earnings to the group.
In 1984, a former member filed a lawsuit claiming that younger males who joined the group “had been forcefully and unlawfully sexually seduced by Burton.” In 1996, one other former member accused Mr. Burton of sexual misconduct with him when he was a minor. Both fits had been settled out of courtroom.
In 2008, Catherine Jones, Mr. Lloyd’s lawyer in his swimsuit in opposition to Google and ASG, gained an identical swimsuit in opposition to the staffing firm Kelly Services. With the swimsuit, a former Kelly worker claimed the corporate failed to advertise her as a result of, not like many co-workers, she was not a member of the Fellowship. A courtroom awarded her $6.5 million in damages.
Before taking a job at Google and working the Google Developer Studios, Mr. Lubbers labored at Kelly Services.
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