Google is asking a federal court in Illinois to dismiss part of a discrimination lawsuit filed against it by a former employee over his Jewish identity, arguing that the plaintiff failed to show that his Judaism also constitutes a racial affiliation.
Jeff Sklarin, a former senior sales manager at the company, sued Google in January, alleging that he faced workplace bias because of his Jewish identity. His lawsuit included several claims, among them a claim under Section 1981 of federal law, which bars racial discrimination.
At the heart of the legal dispute is whether Judaism is also a racial affiliation. Google filed a partial motion to dismiss the complaint, seeking to remove the retaliation and racial discrimination claims. The company argued that Sklarin failed to establish in his lawsuit that his Jewish identity constitutes a race or ethnicity, a necessary condition for a claim under that section. “Plaintiff does not allege that Jewish is his race or ethnicity, does not connect his being Jewish to any alleged misconduct and does not allege that his race was the but-for cause of the company’s actions against him,” Google wrote to the court.
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Jeff Sklarin sued Google in January, alleging that he faced workplace bias because of his Jewish identity
(Photos: From Jeff Skarlin's LinkedIn account, Shutterstock)
The company added that even if the court accepts the argument that Sklarin’s Judaism is equivalent to a racial affiliation, no causal link has been shown between the alleged discrimination and that identity. According to Google, the harassment he described by his manager concerned only his mental health and not his Judaism.
According to the complaint, Sklarin began reporting in 2023 to a new manager with a Muslim background. When he developed anxiety and depression in July 2023, he shared his struggles with his manager, assuming he would receive understanding. After the manager also learned that Sklarin was Jewish, he claims, systematic harassment began — including humiliation, questioning of his cognitive abilities and, ultimately, the worst annual review he said he had received since joining Google despite hitting 93% of his revenue target.
After returning from medical leave, Sklarin asked Google’s human resources department in May 2024 to assign him a new manager for those reasons. But after Google said it could not substantiate his claims, he was forced to resign in September 2024.
Sklarin’s attorney, Linda Friedman, said decades-old rulings support the position that Section 1981 is not limited strictly to race-based claims and also covers mistaken perceptions of race.
First published: 12:21, 05.05.26