How a Non secular Sect Landed Google in a Lawsuit

OREGON HOUSE, Calif. — In a tiny city within the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, a non secular group referred to as the Fellowship of Associates has established an elaborate, 1,200-acre compound filled with artwork and ornate structure.

Greater than 200 miles away from the Fellowship’s base in Oregon Home, Calif., the spiritual sect, which believes a better consciousness will be achieved by embracing positive arts and tradition, has additionally gained a foothold inside a enterprise unit at Google.

Even in Google’s freewheeling workplace tradition, which inspires staff to talk their very own minds and pursue their very own initiatives, the Fellowship’s presence within the enterprise unit was uncommon. As many as 12 Fellowship members and shut kin labored for the Google Developer Studio, or GDS, which produces movies showcasing the corporate’s applied sciences, in response to a lawsuit filed by Kevin Lloyd, a 34-year-old former Google video producer.

Many others staffed firm occasions, working registration desks, taking pictures, enjoying music, offering massages and serving wine. For these occasions, Google frequently purchased wine from an Oregon Home vineyard owned by a member of the Fellowship, in response to the lawsuit.

Mr. Lloyd claimed he was fired final yr as a result of he complained in regards to the affect of the spiritual sect. His go well with additionally names Superior Techniques Group, or ASG, the corporate that despatched Mr. Lloyd to Google as a contractor. Many of the Google Developer Studio joined the staff by way of ASG as contractors, together with many members of the Fellowship.

The go well with, which Mr. Lloyd filed in August in California Superior Court docket, accuses Google and ASG of violating a California employment regulation that protects staff in opposition to discrimination. It’s within the discovery stage.

The New York Occasions corroborated lots of the lawsuit’s claims by way of interviews with eight present and former staff of the Google enterprise unit and examinations of publicly accessible data and different paperwork. These included a membership roster for the Fellowship of Associates, Google spreadsheets detailing occasion budgets and pictures taken at these occasions.

“We’ve got longstanding worker and provider insurance policies in place to forestall discrimination and conflicts of curiosity, and we take these significantly,” a Google spokeswoman, Courtenay Mencini, stated in an announcement. “It’s in opposition to the regulation to ask for the spiritual affiliations of those that work for us or for our suppliers, however we’ll in fact completely look into these allegations for any irregularities or improper contracting practices. If we discover proof of coverage violations, we are going to take motion.”

Dave Van Hoy, ASG’s president, stated in an announcement that his firm believed in “the rules of openness, inclusivity and equality for individuals of all races, religions, gender identification and above all nondiscrimination.”

“We proceed to disclaim the plaintiff’s baseless allegations and count on to vindicate ourselves in court docket quickly,” he added.

Based in 1970 by Robert Earl Burton, a former San Francisco Bay Space schoolteacher, the Fellowship of Associates describes itself as a company “accessible to anybody fascinated by pursuing the religious work of awakening.” It claims 1,500 members throughout the globe, with about 500 to 600 in and round its compound in Oregon Home. Members are usually required to present 10 p.c of their month-to-month earnings to the group.

Mr. Burton primarily based his teachings on the Fourth Method, a philosophy developed within the early twentieth century by a Greek Armenian thinker and considered one of his college students. They believed that whereas most individuals moved by way of life in a state of “waking sleep,” a better consciousness was attainable. Drawing on what he described as visits from angelic incarnations of historic figures like Leonardo da Vinci, Johann Sebastian Bach and Walt Whitman, Mr. Burton taught that true consciousness could possibly be achieved by embracing the positive arts.

Contained in the group’s Northern California compound, referred to as Apollo, the Fellowship staged operas, performs and ballets; ran a critically acclaimed vineyard; and picked up artwork from the world over, together with greater than $11 million in Chinese language antiques.

“They consider that to realize enlightenment it’s best to encompass your self with so-called increased impressions — what Robert Burton believed to be the best issues in life,” stated Jennings Brown, a journalist who not too long ago produced a podcast in regards to the Fellowship referred to as “Revelations.” Mr. Burton described Apollo because the seed of a brand new civilization that might emerge after a world apocalypse.

The Fellowship got here underneath fireplace in 1984 when a former member filed a $2.75 million lawsuit claiming that younger males who joined the group “had been forcefully and unlawfully sexually seduced by Burton.” In 1996, one other former member filed a go well with that accused Mr. Burton of sexual misconduct with him whereas he was minor. Each fits have been settled out of court docket.

The identical yr, the Fellowship bought its assortment of Chinese language antiques at public sale. In 2015, after its chief winemaker left the group, its vineyard ceased manufacturing. The Fellowship’s president, Greg Holman, declined to remark for this text.

The Google Developer Studio is run by Peter Lubbers, a longtime member of the Fellowship of Associates. A July 2019 Fellowship listing, obtained by The Occasions, lists him as a member. Former members affirm that he joined the Fellowship after transferring to the US from the Netherlands.

At Google, he’s a director, a job that’s often a rung under vice chairman in Google administration and often receives annual compensation within the excessive six figures or low seven figures.

Beforehand, Mr. Lubbers labored for the staffing firm Kelly Companies. M. Catherine Jones, Mr. Lloyd’s lawyer, gained an analogous go well with in opposition to Kelly Companies in 2008 on behalf of Lynn Noyes, who claimed that the corporate had failed to advertise her as a result of she was not a member of the Fellowship. A California court docket awarded Ms. Noyes $6.5 million in damages.

Ms. Noyes stated in an interview that Mr. Lubbers was amongst a big contingent of Fellowship members from the Netherlands who labored for the corporate within the late Nineties and early 2000s.

At Kelly Companies, Mr. Lubbers labored as a software program developer earlier than a stint at Oracle, the Silicon Valley software program big, in response to his LinkedIn profile, which was not too long ago deleted. He joined Google in 2012, initially engaged on a staff that promoted Google expertise to outdoors software program builders. In 2014, he helped create G.D.S., which produced movies selling Google developer instruments.

Kelly Companies declined to touch upon the lawsuit.

Beneath Mr. Lubbers, the group introduced in a number of different members of the Fellowship, together with a video producer named Gabe Pannell. A 2015 photograph posted to the web by Mr. Pannell’s father reveals Mr. Lubbers and Mr. Pannell with Mr. Burton, who is called “The Trainer” or “Our Beloved Trainer” inside the Fellowship. A caption on the photograph, which was additionally not too long ago deleted, calls Mr. Pannell a “new pupil.”

Echoing claims made within the lawsuit, Erik Johanson, a senior video producer who has labored for the Google Developer Studio since 2015 by way of ASG, stated the staff’s management abused the hiring system that introduced staff in as contractors.

“They have been capable of additional their very own goals very quickly as a result of they may rent individuals with far much less scrutiny and a far much less rigorous on-boarding course of than if these individuals have been introduced on as full-time staff,” he stated. “It meant that nobody was wanting very carefully when all these individuals have been introduced on from the foothills of the Sierras.”

Mr. Lloyd stated that after making use of for his job he had interviewed with Mr. Pannell twice, and that he had reported on to Mr. Pannell when he joined a 25-person Bay Space video manufacturing staff inside GDS in 2017. He quickly observed that almost half this staff, together with Mr. Lubbers and Mr. Pannell, got here from Oregon Home.

Google paid to have a state-of-the-art sound system put in within the Oregon Home residence of 1 Fellowship member who labored for the staff as a sound designer, in response to the go well with. Mr. Lubbers disputed this declare in a cellphone interview, saying the gear was previous and would have been thrown out if the staff had not despatched it to the house.

The sound designer’s daughter additionally labored for the staff as a set designer. Extra Fellowship members and their kin have been employed to employees Google occasions, together with a photographer, a masseuse, Mr. Lubbers’s spouse and his son, who labored as a DJ at firm events.

The corporate steadily served wine from Grant Marie, a vineyard in Oregon Home run by a Fellowship member who beforehand managed the Fellowship’s vineyard, in response to the go well with and an individual acquainted with the matter, who declined to be recognized for worry of reprisal.

“My private spiritual beliefs are a deeply held personal matter,” Mr. Lubbers stated. “In all my years in tech, they’ve by no means performed a job in hiring. I’ve all the time carried out my position by bringing in the best expertise for the state of affairs — bringing in the best distributors for the roles.”

He stated ASG, not Google, employed contractors for the GDS staff, including that it was positive for him to “encourage individuals to use for these roles.” And he stated that in recent times, the staff has grown to greater than 250 individuals, together with part-time staff.

Mr. Pannell stated in a cellphone interview that the staff introduced in staff from “a circle of trusted pals and households with extraordinarily certified backgrounds,” together with graduates of the College of California, Berkeley.

In 2017 and 2018, in response to the go well with, Mr. Pannell attended video shoots intoxicated and infrequently threw issues on the presenter when he was sad with a efficiency. Mr. Pannell stated that he didn’t keep in mind the incidents and that they didn’t sound like one thing he would do. He additionally acknowledged that he’d had issues with alcohol and had sought assist.

After seven months at Google, Mr. Pannell was made a full-time worker, in response to the go well with. He was later promoted to senior producer after which govt producer, in response to his LinkedIn profile, which has additionally been deleted.

Mr. Lloyd introduced a lot of this to the eye of a supervisor contained in the staff, he stated. However he was repeatedly informed to not pursue the matter as a result of Mr. Lubbers was a strong determine at Google and since Mr. Lloyd might lose his job, in response to his lawsuit. He stated he was fired in February 2021 and was not given a cause. Google, Mr. Lubbers and Mr. Pannell stated he had been fired for efficiency points.

Ms. Jones, Mr. Lloyd’s lawyer, argued that Google’s relationship with ASG allowed members of the Fellowship to hitch the corporate with out being correctly vetted. “This is without doubt one of the strategies the Fellowship used within the Kelly case,” she stated. “They’ll get by way of the door with out the conventional scrutiny.”

Mr. Lloyd is looking for damages for wrongful termination, retaliation, failure to forestall discrimination and the intentional infliction of emotion misery. However he stated he worries that, by doing a lot enterprise with its members, Google fed cash into the Fellowship of Associates.

“When you change into conscious of this, you change into accountable,” Mr. Lloyd stated. “You’ll be able to’t look away.”