Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a panel at the CEO of the Americas Summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on June 9, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Google on Friday sent an email to the entire company about the historic Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, explaining that employees in affected states can apply for relocation without explaining why.
“This is a profound change for the country that deeply affects many of us, especially women,” Google People Director Fiona Cicconi wrote in an email to workers, seen by CNBC. “Googlers can also request the move without justification, and those who oversee this process will be aware of the situation.”
The note does not say how many applications the company would approve and makes no promises. The company is still in the process of allocating relocations for employees who do not want to return to their assigned physical office due to the company’s return to office policy, which began in April.
Google has more than 30 locations in the United States
Cicconi also said he will offer “support sessions” to employees in the coming days.
Google’s statement comes when corporations across the country, including Amazon and Meta, say they will pay employees to travel for abortions if they are in states where it is banned following the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to overturn Roe v. support the federal right to receive an abortion.
When the ruling was leaked for the first time, Google said it would offer travel benefits to employees seeking out-of-state abortion care. The company’s benefit plan and health insurance plan in the United States for full-time employees cover out-of-state medical producers who are not available where an employee lives and works, Cicconi added in the note .
When CNBC asked for comments Friday morning, a spokesman said the company had nothing to add. You have not responded to requests for feedback on Cicconi’s email or transfer details.
The company has also not responded to requests for comment on whether it will comply with possible requests for enforcement of user-related data law. Last month, a group of 42 Democratic lawmakers urged Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a letter to stop collecting and retaining unnecessary or unaggregated location data that could be used to identify people seeking abortion.
Here is the full note from Google People Director Fiona Cicconi:
Hello everybody,
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Dobbs v.
This is a profound change for the country that deeply affects many of us, especially women. Everyone will respond in their own way, whether they want space and time to process, talk, volunteer outside of work, not want to talk about it at all, or something else entirely. Please pay attention to how your co-workers feel and, as always, treat each other with respect.
Equity is extraordinarily important to us as a company, and we share concerns about the impact this ruling will have on people’s health, lives and careers. We will continue to work to make reproductive health information accessible to our products and will continue to work to protect users’ privacy.
To support Googlers and their dependents, our U.S. benefit plan and health insurance cover out-of-state medical procedures that are not available where an employee lives and works. Googlers can also request the transfer without justification, and those who oversee this process will be aware of the situation. If you need additional support, connect 1: 1 with a people consultant.
We will be hosting assistance sessions for Googlers in the US over the next few days. These will be published in Google News.
Please feel free to lean on your Google community for the next few days and continue to take good care of each other.