In the world where the #MeToo, which happened following the exposure of numerous sexual-abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, the world started seeing "harassment" quite differently.
In a while-male driven world, where women can use the movement to empower themselves and their fellow women, #MeToo can also empower men, if they're the victims.
There has been discussion about what possible roles men may have in the movement, because some men have indeed experienced some sort of sexual abuse during their lives, but often feel unable to talk about it.
While men can try to use the movement, or share their experiences of being abused, the world rarely actually listen.
This is exactly what happened to a Google executive, after he was fired because his female boss groped him.
Because he knew his world wouldn't listen, and in fact it really didn't, he filed a lawsuit instead.
Read: The #MeToo Movement On Social Media
Ryan Olohan accused his former boss, Tiffany Miller, for firing him after Miller allegedly groped him at a restaurant in December 2019.
The drunken company gathering at Fig & Olive on West 13th Street occurred shortly after Olohan was promoted to Google's Manager And Director of Food, Beverages, and Restaurants and joined a new management team.
His new position at the time placed him at Google’s Manhattan offices, same as Miller.
During the gathering, Miller, an Asian descent, told Olohan that she knew he liked Asian women.
Miller was literally over him.
Miller, who was the Director of Programmatic Media at Google, even rubbed on Olohan’s abs, complimented on his physique, and told him that her marriage lacked "spice," according to court papers.
At that time, Olohan, a married father of seven, was uncomfortable. But he couldn't simply bring up the incident to the others because many of his colleagues were drunk. And even when they responded, they only joked by saying “Tiffany being Tiffany,” court papers said.
Realizing that he couldn't depend on his colleagues, Olohan reported the issue to Google’s human resources department the following week.
But his complaint was never considered a complaint.
A representative at the department only “openly admitted […] that if the complaint was ‘in reverse’ — a female accusing a white male of harassment — the complaint would certainly be escalated,” according to the lawsuit.
But still, Miller began retaliating.
Soon after Olohan made the complaint, Miller started criticizing him for his “microaggressions,” although the complaint does not specify what Miller accused him of.
Miller's retaliation allegedly continued at a Google-hosted event in December 2021, in which Miller drunkenly mocked Olohan in front of his colleagues.
The moment was so embarrassing for Olohan, that others at the event had to separate the two from each other.
While Miller later apologized, that didn't stop her from repeating herself.
At another occasion, Miller drunkenly berated Olohan again during a company get-together at a karaoke bar in April 2022, where she mocked him upon arrival and reiterated that she knew he preferred Asian women over white women.
According to court papers, Miller knew that Olohan's wife is also Asian.
But again, "although Google was aware that Miller’s continued harassment of Olohan stemmed from his rejection of her sexual advances, it again took no action,” the suit claimed.
Now, that the issue between them has become a public knowledge, Olohan began to feel that increasing pressure from his supervisor, who told him that there were "obviously too many white guys" on his management team.
Then, a month later, Google fired Olohan, ending his employment after 16 years at the company.
Olohan said he was told by the Google Employee Investigations team that he was fired because he was not “inclusive.”
When he asked the reason for his non-inclusiveness, Olohan was told that he had shown favoritism towards high-performing employees, and that he was "ableist" for commenting on other employees’ "walking pace."
Google is one of the largest tech companies the world has ever seen, and there, "bro culture" thrives.
Because there, men generally have more power over women.
And also because of that, the bro culture couldn't accept the fact that it was Miller who harassed Olohan.
Olohan was fired "because he was not 'inclusive'".
Since his rejection towards a woman's advances that started all this, Olohan said that he is a victim of "sexual harassment, gender discrimination, race discrimination, and retaliation."
Olohan had no other choice, other than suing Google for what had happened.
Through the lawsuit, Olohan seeks unspecified damages, and named both Google and Miller as defendants and accuses them of fostering a hostile work environment.
Google responded by denying Olohan's allegations, terming them "a fictional account."
"This lawsuit is a fictional account of events filled with numerous falsehoods, fabricated by a disgruntled ex-employee, who was senior to (name withheld) at Google,” the spokesperson for Google said. adding that Miller "never made any ‘advance’ toward Mr. Olohan, which witnesses can readily corroborate."
Google referred this to the huge layoff that happened to Google parent Alphabet, which roughly 12,000 jobs or 6% of its global workforce worldwide.