Interview with Jalon Hall, Black Deaf employee who sued Google
Alex (Daily Moth): Wired.com reported that a Black, Deaf woman named Jalon Hall is suing her employer, Google, with allegations that she was discriminated against on the basis of her disability and race.
[Video clip of interview]
Jalon Hall: Hello. My name is Jalon. (Shows sign name)
[End interview clip]
Alex: I’ve interviewed Jalon and received a response from Google. I will show them, but first, I want to recap some of the Wired.com article.
The article explained that Jalon was contacted by a Google recruiter in 2020 to work with Google in moderating YouTube videos and determine whether they complied with child safety rules. She later moderated videos to check for Covid or election misinformation. But in both roles, she felt she couldn’t effectively do her job because she was not allowed to use ASL interpreters to review the videos.
The article explained that Google contracts ASL interpreters from a vendor, Deaf Services of Palo Alto (DPSA). Managers at Google did not allow these interpreters to work with Jalon with translating what people were saying in the videos or explaining audio due to concerns of confidentiality and exposing interpreters to graphic imagery.
[Begin interview video clip]
Alex: I read your lawsuit and the article. It said you were denied an interpreter because your job was to review sensitive content with violence or abuse. You had to review them. But you didn’t get an interpreter because of confidentiality concerns and it may be traumatizing for the interpreters? How did you — do you agree with that, or do you think it should be different?
Jalon: I disagree. I watched videos of traumatizing content. It’s very sensitive. It involves child safety. Children being killed. Different things. It’s truly traumatic. But Google does provide counseling services for us to go through that. They provide that support. But for interpreters, it’s their job to interpret. Before Google hired me, Google already talked with different interpreters and told them about their job responsibilities and talked about confidentiality and the sensitive nature. Many interpreters declined. Some interpreters accepted and were willing to watch. So the interpreters that we already had were those who understood the responsibilities. They already agreed to begin. So, I disagree. If you give a person an opportunity to make a decision on whether they want to watch these types of content that’s traumatizing or not — the interpreters had every opportunity. I did ask interpreters on why they were removed and they said, “Well, Google didn’t allow me to be in the investigation room anymore.” I didn’t think it made sense. So yeah.
Alex: What was it like for you to have to work without interpreters? Watching the videos without them?
Jalon: Yeah. So I was very motivated and determined. I don’t like to be told the word, “No” or that “I can’t.” I can. So for me, I tried to figure out how I could do my job without interpreters while knowing that was wrong. I typically sat down on the investigation table and I would find myself rewinding the videos again and again to try and see if I could read their mouths or if I could catch something. After rewinding, sometimes I could understand, but sometimes it was impossible because there was a lot of movement happening in the videos. There was a lot of political discussion in the videos. A lot of things that were said and done that were impossible. But what people have to understand is that once I made a decision to decline or accept a video, I have to explain to Google/YouTube the reason for my decision. I didn’t feel confident to decide to remove someone’s information off the platform if I can’t explain why — because I couldn’t hear what they were saying. If I clicked “decline” and I was asked why, if I said I didn’t know, it wouldn’t make sense. That’s not how you do your job, you know. So yeah.
Alex: Do you feel like Google put you in the wrong position? Should they have moved you to another position that wouldn’t require an interpreter to review sensitive content? It’s a big company.
Jalon: If you tell me that Google should have put me in a position just so I can have an interpreter then that’s wrong because the law says that we are allowed to have an interpreter, period. I have specific skills with my major and experience. It involves interaction. A lot of my work is not just work — some jobs you can do without interaction but when you look at my background, at some point, it does involve that interaction. You still need a sign language interpreter. I’m good with investigating. Understand this — in my training, I passed everything. I was so proud of myself. Some of my scores beat other hearing people’s scores. For real. But when my interpreters were taken away, that’s where I felt slighted. I know what I’m doing. So you are taking away my opportunity to be able to thrive? That’s not cool. That’s not cool.
[End interview clip]
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Alex: Jalon explained to Wired.com that she struggled with her video moderation job without interpreters. She was transferred to another department in 2021 but said she still faced barriers and frustrations with interpreters and felt like her ideas were excluded by her colleagues. She said she hasn’t received a promotion in three years while other colleagues hired at the same time as her have moved up.
Jalon told Wired.com that she felt more frustrated because Google was using her to show that the company was inclusive in Google’s posts on LinkedIn and Instagram.
[Screenshots of LinkedIn and Instagram posts by Google’s accounts showcasing Jalon Hall in posts about inclusivity]
According to online court documents, Jalon sued Google on December 21, 2023. The suit alleged that her ADA rights were violated and that she faced racist comments from a manager and was in a hostile work environment.
Wired.com said there are about 40 Deaf employees who work in Google, but Jalon may be the only Black Deaf employee.
Jalon’s lawsuit initially demanded an amount greater than $6 million and a change in policies. She then amended her lawsuit in January to demand $3 billion dollars and policy changes.
[Screenshot showing a part of Jalon’s lawsuit that shows she is demanding “$3 Billion dollars and policies change.”]
Jalon is representing herself in the lawsuit. She doesn’t have an attorney. She is still working at Google.
[Begin interview clip]
Alex: There’s now this lawsuit with two serious allegations: racial discrimination and deaf/disability discrimination.
Jalon: Yes.
Alex: You’re still working with Google right now? Continuing to work with them?
Jalon: Yes.
Alex: What makes you want to stay and not quit while you sue them? Can you explain why you’re staying?
Jalon: Yes, so, there are many reasons why I want to stay. There are also many reasons why I want to leave as well. But the major reason why I want to stay is… I’m sure you’ve noticed in history that a lot of times, people who are in a similar situation as me tend to quit. Sometimes they resolve things but sometimes not. But the majority is not resolved. I haven’t seen anything in the U.S. that shows someone staying in the company and challenging the company, challenging them to resolve it. I think it’s very hard for me because I have family and friends who come to me and are happy about Google’s inclusivity, but when I show them my evidence and what happened to me, they are shocked and react. I’ve never imagined myself working for a company that says, “We’re inclusive and we care,” but on the inside, they do something that is the opposite. Am I supposed to just go along with that? Am I supposed to stay silent? I have no other choice but to continue fighting for my rights. You know. So, yeah.
[End interview clip]
Alex: Google has asked a judge to dismiss the case. Google said Jalon didn’t provide factual support for her claims and that one couldn’t allege discrimination based on both race and disability under the ADA.
[Screenshot from Google’s response to the lawsuit.] “Third, even as to any narrower ADA claim which Plaintiff properly exhausted, a claim alleging that she was discriminated against based on her disability and race (or based on her disability, race and gender) is not available to her under the ADA, which as a matter of law requires that d disability be the “but for” cause of any discrimination under that statue…”
Alex: I reached out to Google for their response to Jalon’s allegations of discrimination.
They provided this statement.
“We are committed to building an inclusive workplace and offer a range of accommodations to support the success of our employees, including sign language interpreters and captioning.” -Google Spokesperson
Alex: Google did not directly respond to my question of whether Google could simply find a team of interpreters who could handle video moderation work.
Google also said they do provide workplace accommodations, provide training on disabilities, and have worked on projects to improve their offerings/products for Deaf users.
That’s all that I have to share for now on this situation.
Wired.com Article: https://www.wired.com/story/google-black-deaf-worker-diversity-suing-discrimination/