Lawyer in Google Bias Case to Advise on Federal Labor Relations

Noah Peters—the attorney for a Google employee who alleged the company discriminates against people with conservative views—will represent the federal government’s labor relations agency in court and advise it on legal issues.

Colleen Duffy Kiko, the Federal Labor Relations Authority’s chief, announced Peters’ appointment as solicitor on Sept. 19. Peters in his new role will serve as the FLRA’s in-house counsel, providing legal guidance on the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, Ethics in Government Act, Freedom of Information Act, and other laws, Kiko said in a statement.

The FLRA faciliates labor-management relations for 2.1 million civilian federal employees, including about 1.2 million who are represented by unions.

Peters previously represented former Google worker Kevin Cernekee, one of a handful of ex-employees who alleged that the company is biased against Republicans and conservatives. Google earlier this month settled a National Labor Relations Board case and agreed to rescind a warning against Cernekee.

The allegation by Peters’ client and other former Googlers like James Damore became a cause célèbre for some Republican politicians. Their arguments have been supported publicly by President Donald Trump, and the White House in July held a Social Media Summit on what the administration describes as an anti-conservative bias on social media platforms.

Peters is also among the lawyers representing Meghan Murphy in a lawsuit against Twitter challenging Murphy’s suspension from the platform for her tweets criticizing transgender rights, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“It’s a great honor and I really look forward to working with everyone at the agency and representing the Authority before the courts,” Peters told Bloomberg Law Sep. 19.

His appointment comes as the FLRA is still waiting for a Senate confirmation vote on Catherine Bird, who is Trump’s pick to be the agency’s general counsel. The general counsel’s office at the FLRA faces hundreds of backlogged charges, meaning that Bird if confirmed would decide the agency’s response to the allegations of unfair labor practices and other labor violations.

The nomination of Bird, an attorney with the Department of Health and Human Services who oversees labor negotiations, is strongly opposed by the two largest federal employee unions. Bird was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee July 24 on an 8-5 party-line vote.

The appointment of Peters as FLRA solicitor doesn’t require Senate confirmation.

‘Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s Viewpoint’

Peters said in January that his client Cernekee was punished by Google for dissenting from the company’s “very, very left-wing office culture” and for sticking up for co-workers who didn’t conform to the “tribal” political correctness there. “This case is without merit and we are defending the claim vigorously,” a Google spokeswoman responded at the time.

Peters said he doubts the publicity behind his representation of Cernekee was a factor in his selection for the FLRA solicitor job.

“It’s just a normal civil service position you apply for,” he said. “Some cases happened to involve some big, important issues, but I think at the end of the day they wanted someone who’s comfortable with litigation, and it was probably attractive to have someone that can see things from both a plaintiff’s and defendant’s viewpoint.”

Before his career as an attorney in private practice focusing on labor and employment law, Peters clerked in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Peters has undergraduate, law, and master’s degrees from the University of Virginia, the FLRA said in its statement.