Previously we reported on a case where a Google Senior Manager was dismissed for "under performance" and the case was being heard by the EAT. The determination for this case has now been published and saw €110,000 awarded in compensation to the employee.
As reported in The Irish Times, Rachel Berthold, a former senior manager at Google in Dublin, was awarded the compensation after the tribunal rejected Google’s defence that it had dismissed her on competency grounds. The tribunal said it was “not satisfied that fair procedures were used” and it ruled her dismissal was “procedural unfair”. The tribunal dismissed a claim by Ms Berthold that she was entitled to an award under minimum notice legislation, pointing out that she had received payment in lieu of notice.
In her evidence to the tribunal last March Ms Berthold had claimed Google had a “unique” system of comparing performance of staff groups worldwide, in which each unit’s ratings were assessed by their likeness to a template “bell curve”.
Because of this, she said staff were ranked from one to five and someone at Google always had to get a low score “of 2.9”, so the unit could match the bell curve. She said senior staff “calibrated” the ratings supplied by line managers to ensure conformity with the template and these calibrations could reduce a line manager’s assessment of an employee, in effect giving them the poisoned score of less than three.
Ms Berthold said a reduced rating could block the payment of an employee’s bonus, affect their chances of transferring within the global company and curtail their chances of promotion. Ms Berthold told the tribunal she began to get lower rankings herself and felt she was being unfairly treated by her London-based superior Anne-Catrin Sallaba. She said she was working very hard, but came to believe she “was Catrin’s 2.9”.
The determination issued by the tribunal said “it was claimed by the respondent (Google) that it is a fair dismissal and that it was linked to competency and the Tribunal does not believe this”. The tribunal also found there was no evidence that Google “considered any other option than termination. Furthermore the tribunal is not satisfied that fair procedures were used and therefore it is procedurally unfair”.
