An executive at the X lab, set up by Google, has left his post after historical sexual harassment accusations against him were made public in the New York Times.
Richard DeVaul is alleged to have made inappropriate advances towards a female job candidate in 2013.
senior executive Andy Rubin had received $90m (£70m) after leaving Google in 2014.
New York times reported :’What google did not make public was that an employee had accused Mr. Rubin of sexual misconduct. The woman, with whom Mr. Rubin had been having an extramarital relationship, said he coerced her into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013, according to two company executives with knowledge of the episode. Google investigated and concluded her claim was credible, said the people, who spoke on the condition that they not be named, citing confidentiality agreements. Mr. Rubin was notified, they said, and Mr. Page asked for his resignation.
Google could have fired Mr. Rubin and paid him little to nothing on the way out. Instead, the company handed him a $90 million exit package, paid in installments of about $2 million a month for four years, said two people with knowledge of the terms. The last payment is scheduled for next month.’
Mr Rubin said on twitter that the New York Times story contained “numerous inaccuracies about my employment at Google and wild exaggerations about my compensation”.
“Specifically, I never coerced a woman to have sex in a hotel room,” he added.
Mr DeVaul told the New York Times that he was sorry for his “error of judgement”.
His LinkedIn profile has been updated to say that he is now working as an “innovation executive consultant”.
Google said this week that, since 2016, employees who had left the company after sexual harassment allegations had not received a pay-off.
Google’s chief executive said this week that he shared the “anger and disappointment” felt by some staff following reports of how sexual harassment had been dealt with at the tech giant.
Sundar Pichai noted some staff would stage a walkout on Thursday over the issue.
He said they would have Google’s support.