Google tells employees they can relocate ‘without justification,’ in wake of Supreme Court decision

Following this morning’s decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, Google has informed its US employees that they can relocate themselves “without justification.”

On Friday morning, the Supreme Court issued a new ruling that ended the protection of abortion rights in the United States, leaving it to be decided by the states. In turn, some states had “trigger bans” prepared, which will disallow abortions in those areas in the coming days, or in some cases immediately.

In response to that ruling, The Verge reports, Google’s chief people officer Fiona Cicconi sent an email to all employees in the United States, informing them of the ways the company is able to be helpful both to its staff and to the public.

For employees and their dependents, Google’s healthcare benefits are able to “cover out-of-state medical procedures.” The company is also allowing workers to relocate to a new state “without justification.” It’s not clear at this time whether this relocation policy is new or existing.

The message also speaks of Google’s intention to “make information on reproductive healthcare accessible” while also protecting individuals’ privacy.

You can read the full email, provided by The Verge, below.

Hi everyone,

This morning the US Supreme Court issued a ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that rolls back Roe v. Wade.

This is a profound change for the country that deeply affects so many of us, especially women. Everyone will respond in their own way, whether that’s wanting space and time to process, speaking up, volunteering outside of work, not wanting to discuss it at all, or something else entirely. Please be mindful of what your co-workers may be feeling and, as always, treat each other with respect.

Equity is extraordinarily important to us as a company, and we share concerns about the impact this ruling will have on people’s health, lives, and careers. We will keep working to make information on reproductive healthcare accessible across our products and continue our work to protect user privacy.

To support Googlers and their dependents, our US benefits plan and health insurance covers out-of-state medical procedures that are not available where an employee lives and works. Googlers can also apply for relocation without justification, and those overseeing this process will be aware of the situation. If you need additional support, please connect 1:1 with a People Consultant via [link to internal tool redacted].

We will be arranging support sessions for Googlers in the US in the coming days. These will be posted to Googler News.

Please don’t hesitate to lean on your Google community in the days ahead and continue to take good care of yourselves and each other.