Weekly round-up: Google axing employees, worker mortality, and child employment breaches

In this week’s round-up of HR news, Google fired employees who were protesting, 3.7 million workers will have major illnesses by 2040, and the breach of child employment laws.

Google fires workers who protested the Israeli government

According to US News, employees at Google have been fired after taking a stand against their organisation over the technology that their company is supplying the Israeli government amid the war in Gaza. A total of 28 employees were fired by the tech giant after nine employees were arrested during sit-in protests at offices in New York and California.

The protests are based on “Project Nimbus”, a 1.2-billion-dollar contract signed by Google and Amazon in 2021 that pledges to provide the Israeli government with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.

The protests are being organised primarily by a group called No Tech for Apartheid. Google claims that Project Nimbus isn’t being deployed in weaponry or intelligence gathering, in an attempt to distance themselves from the sheer violence of the war in Gaza.

In a statement, Google attributed the firing of the 28 employees to “completely unacceptable behaviour” that prevented some workers from being productive and actually doing their jobs, as the protesters created a threatening atmosphere.

The Mountain View, California, company added it is still investigating what happened during the protests, implying more workers could still be fired.

No Tech for Apartheid accused Google of lying about what took place inside its offices during what they claimed was a “peaceful sit-in”. Their claims have been reinforced with video evidence showing somewhat tame behaviour. They have also received overwhelming support from other workers who weren’t participating in the protest.

“This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers,” No Tech for Apartheid asserted.

Study finds that 3.7m workers will have long-term illness by 2040

A new study has found that a record 3.7 million workers in England will have a major illness by 2040. According to The Guardian, the current trends show that 700,000 more working-age adults will be living with high-healthcare needs or big risks of mortality by 2040 – up nearly 25 per cent from 2019 levels.

The authors of the report stated that there would be no improvement in health inequalities for working-age adults by 2040, with 80 per cent of the increase in major illness in more deprived areas.

Researchers at the Health Foundation examined 1.7 million GP and hospital records, alongside mortality data, which they then connected with geographical data to estimate the difference in diagnosed illness.

These predictions of ill health are expected to change in England between 2019 and 2040 based on the current trends in risk factors: smoking, obesity, alcohol abuse, diet and physical activity, as well as rates of illness, life expectancy, and population changes.

The authors concluded by saying that people in the most deprived areas of England are more likely to develop a major illness 10 years earlier than those not based in such deprived areas.

“A whole-government approach is needed to prevent ill health, starting with tackling the root causes of why some people – such as those living in poverty and in deprived areas, as well as ethnic minorities and people with learning disabilities – are more likely to have worse physical and mental health,” said Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers.

More child employment breaches in Victoria

According to CBR City News, TK Maxx, a prominent retailer across Australia, has admitted one of its Victorian stores employed two young children without the required permit.

The Wage Inspectorate Victoria found that the Werribee store in Melbourne’s south-west was employing a child aged under 15 without a permit. The business was warned that the child must stop work immediately, but instead, it hired a second child without a permit the following week.

The business was then charged with seven offences, including permit breaches and failing to ensure the child worker was being supervised by someone with a Working with Children clearance.

The magistrate, Malcolm Thomas, described the offending as inadvertent and noted the business’s lack of prior convictions and early guilty pleas. He then placed the business on a 12-month good behaviour bond, with the condition that it pay $5,000 to the court fund.

The Wage Inspectorate’s commissioner, Robert Hortle, said TK Maxx Werribee had received clear warnings that it ignored.

“The parents who gave permission for their kids to work at [the store] have every right to feel let down. It’s behaviour that shows a disregard for child employment laws and for the wellbeing of its young employees. It’s concerning to see a workplace of this size fail to take the welfare of kids into account,” said Hortle.

TK Maxx has still declined to comment on the situation.