Transgender Former Google Engineer May Be Forced to Arbitrate Bullying Case

(Bloomberg) -- Google will probably stay out of the public eye in a fight with one of its former engineers who identifies as transgender and accuses the internet giant of failing to protect its staff from bullying.

A state judge in San Francisco tentatively ordered the case to be in heard in private arbitration under a contract provision that bars employees of the Alphabet Inc. unit from pursuing such disputes in court.

Tim Chevalier, the engineer, alleges that the company allowed employees to “belittle and harass” minorities on its internal messaging system and that he was ultimately fired after he complained.

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