Essential founder and CEO Andy Rubin will be taking a leave from the company for a few weeks for “personal reasons.” The move comes after a report from The Information revealed a relationship that Rubin had at Google with a woman working under him in the Android division.
The report does not mention the nature of the relationship but does call it an “inappropriate” one. When contacted by The Information, Rubin’s spokesperson said that any relationship he was into while at Google was consensual.
The CEO even told the employees of the company before taking his leave that he did not engage in any misconduct while at Google or after leaving the company. He also said that Google never accused him of any misconduct during his tenure.
The internal investigation against Andy Rubin for his inappropriate behaviour took place in 2014 —- almost a year after he left the Android division but continued to work at Google — when the woman in question complained to the HR. The internal investigation concluded that Rubin was in an inappropriate relationship with the woman shortly after which he left Google.
If Rubin was in a relationship with a woman in the Android team, he likely breached Google’s policy which requires employees to reveal such relationships if they are in the same division.
Andy Rubin co-founded Android before it was acquired by Google. He worked at Google for almost a decade before leaving the company to start Essential after a few years.
[Via The Information]