A senior Google employee has claimed she was made redundant after reporting a manager who shared inappropriate details about his personal life with clients. Victoria Woodall, who worked in Google’s UK Sales and Agencies team, has taken the tech giant to an employment tribunal, alleging a “relentless campaign of retaliation” following her whistleblowing.
According to Woodall’s claim, the manager in question boasted to a female client about his “swinger” lifestyle and showed her a nude photo of his wife during a business lunch. Woodall reported the incident to her boss, Matt Bush, and Google launched an internal investigation. The probe found the manager had sexually harassed two female colleagues, touching them without consent and making inappropriate comments. He was subsequently dismissed for gross misconduct.
However, Woodall alleges that shortly after her complaint, her own boss, Bush, forced her to swap her successful client account with a failing one, leaving her vulnerable to redundancy. She also claims she was demoted to a subordinate role on a major internal project, and her performance was unfairly downgraded.
In her witness statement, Woodall described the move as a “poisoned chalice” that had left her vulnerable to redundancy. She also alleged the existence of a “boys’ club” culture at Google, including a “chairman’s lunch” event that was funded by the company until December 2022 and was exclusively for men.
Google denies retaliating against Woodall, arguing that her role was one of 26 across the team and wider department that were closed as part of a broader reorganisation and redundancy process. The company also disputes Woodall’s claims about the “boys’ club” culture, stating that an internal investigation found no evidence to support this.
However, court documents show that in 2023, as Google prepared for the redundancy process, a senior executive, Debbie Weinstein, then vice president of Google UK and Ireland, messaged a colleague saying they should “use this as a chance to exit people.”
Woodall remains employed by Google, receiving long-term sickness payments for work-related stress. A judgement from the London Central Employment Tribunal is expected in the coming weeks.