Google threatens employees with termination over leaks

A Google executive has threatened to terminate employees who have shared internal information with journalist, according to a lawsuit filed against the tech giant.

According to the court papers filed this month in San Francisco Superior Court, it is alleged that the threat came in the form of an email sent to Google employees by Brian Katz, head of investigations at the company.

The email came as a response to a leak of internal jokes about Nest CEO Tony Fadell and the transcript of an open meeting he held with Google employees, first reported by The Register.

Google has said that its confidentiality agreements are designed to protect its business. "We're very committed to transparency and having an open culture, which means we frequently share with employees’ confidential details of product launches and other types of sensitive, proprietary business information," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "Our employee confidentiality policies are designed to protect that information, without preventing employees from disclosing information about their terms and conditions of employment, or workplace concerns."