A Google executive claims he was booted by the tech giant for rejecting a high-ranking female colleague’s jokes at a fancy company dinner.
Ryan Olohan, 48, is accusing Google of firing him after one of its top executives, Tiffany Miller, groped him at a Chelsea restaurant in December 2019 and told him she knew he liked Asian women — which Miller is, according to a federal lawsuit filed in November. in Manhattan.
Miller, director of Google’s programmatic media, rubbed Olohan’s abs, complimented his physique and told him her marriage lacked “spice,” according to court documents.
The alleged hands-on encounter unfolded during a boozy corporate meeting at Fig & Olive on West 13th Street shortly after Olohan was promoted to general manager of food, beverage and restaurants and joined a new management team, including Miller in Google’s offices. in Manhattan, according to the lawsuit.
While Olohan, a married father of seven, said he initially felt uncomfortable bringing up the incident because many of his colleagues were drunk, his colleagues later attributed the behavior to “Tiffany is Tiffany,” court documents say.
Olohan said he reported the issue to Google’s human resources department the following week, but nothing ever came of the complaint.
The HR representative “openly admitted … that if the complaint was ‘reverse’ — a woman accusing a white man of harassment — the complaint would certainly be escalated,” the lawsuit said.
Olohan claims that Miller began to retaliate against him after filing the complaint by criticizing him and reporting him to human resources for “micro-aggressions”, although the complaint does not specify what Miller accused him of.
The retaliation reportedly continued at an event hosted by Google in December 2021, where Miller drunkenly admonished Olohan in front of his colleagues. The rancor was so bad that colleagues encouraged Miller to move to the other end of the table, the lawsuit said.
Miller later apologized and “while Google knew Miller’s continued harassment of Olohan stemmed from his rejection of her sexual advances, it again took no action,” the lawsuit alleges.
Miller once again berated Olohan drunk at a corporate meeting at a karaoke bar in April 2022, where she mocked him upon arrival and reiterated that she knew he preferred Asian women to white women — knowing that Olohan’s wife is Asian, according to court documents.
The alleged encounter took place at a drunken corporate meeting at Fig & Olive on West 13th Street.
Another incident allegedly occurred at a Google-hosted event in December 2021, where Miller drunkenly admonished Olohan in front of his colleagues.
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Olohan said he began to feel increasing pressure from his supervisor, who told him there were “obviously too many white guys” on his management team. In July, he was encouraged to fire a male employee to make room on his team for a woman, the lawsuit alleges.
The following month, Google fired Olohan, terminating his employment after 16 years with the company.
On a video conference call, Olohan said the Google Employee Investigations team told him he was being fired for not being “inclusive.”
When asked why he was non-inclusive, Olohan was told that he had shown favoritism towards high-performing employees and that he was “skilled” at commenting on other employees’ “walking pace”.
Olohan’s lawsuit, seeking unspecified damages, names both Google and Miller as defendants, accusing them of discrimination, retaliation and promoting a hostile work environment.
In a statement to the Post, Evan Siegfried, a spokesman for Miller, denied the allegations against his client.
“This lawsuit is a fictional account of events full of falsehoods concocted by a disgruntled ex-employee, who was Ms. Miller’s senior at Google,” Siegfried said. “Mrs. Miller never made any ‘progress’ towards Mr. Olohan, which witnesses can easily confirm.”