One of the most significant employment law cases of 2007 was Reid v. Google, Inc., in which the search giant was charged with age discrimination for terminating PhD. computer scientist Brian Reid at the age of 54. Prior to his firing, Reid was reportedly subjected to a plethora of age-related disparagement, made the butt of jokes, and found himself a fish out of water in a "youthful atmosphere" featuring employee participation in hockey, football and skiing. Reid testified that upon being fired, he was told he was not a "cultural fit."

Google maintained it had simply eliminated Reid's dead end job, but in a unanimous decision last fall, the Court of Appeal for the Sixth District wrote:

We conclude that Reid produced sufficient evidence that Google's reasons for terminating him were untrue or pretextual, and that Google acted with discriminatory motive such that a factfinder would conclude Google engaged in age discrimination.

With the case headed to the California Supreme Court, it's all the more incredible that Google is reprising Enron's work-hard-play-hard motto — a red flag for ageism — in its current recruiting. But anything's fair game after using Hitler in your hiring.

There are no job opening for recruiters, its frozen across the board. People are about to get a huge shock. I am a recruiter of 11 years, seems like the bubble burst all over again.

I have heard grumblings of a hiring freeze at Google. Apparently the service staff haven't been able to bring on new people and an external company has been "auditing" the company since february. (read: efficiency experts and axe sharpening) While not bringing on new service people might not raise much an alarm, there also seems to be a significant cut in engineering recruiting with qualified candidates not even getting a phone interview.

We're pretty sure that Google is still aggressively courting top talent, and with unemployment up that means they can be even pickier about granting interviews. Don't lash out at Google just because they don't pick up the phone — after all, a 3.49 undergraduate GPA doesn't get you a callback to take care of Googler spawn.

Pablo goes on to argue that if it was left up to U.S.-born talent, great software like Orkut might never have been developed. There you go!

In a follow-up, Computerworld reports Google PR is tap-dancing around the question of whether the 90 workers denied H-1B visas were actually denied any job at Google or just U.S.-based jobs. "As a company with a global presence, we're fortunate enough to be able to have employees work for us in other countries if they're not permitted to stay in the U.S.," a Google spokesperson emailed. "That said, many of our core products are created and improved upon here. We also believe that worker satisfaction is higher when employees can work in the location they prefer." So there you have it: According to Google, it's not applying for H-1B visas because it needs to have its workers in the U.S. It's just doing it for fun.

What ought to stop this search-engine sprawl: Googlers' own consciences, if they are still guided by the "Don't be evil" slogan. Developing new offices on the very fringe of Bay Area's suburbs, on areas that used to be wetlands, or neighbor the fragile ecosystems, is unconscionable. Despite the perk of free shuttle buses, most Googlers still drive carbon-emitting cars to work.

The Bay Area's infrastructure allowed Google to blossom. The region has asked far too little of it in return. Google should commit now to funding the extension of Santa Clara County's light-rail system through its new campus and its old one. It should also expand in cities like San Francisco, already served by public transit, rather than shuttle its workers 40 miles each way. Eliminating energy expended in transportation is far more productive than finding clever ways to achieve marginal efficiencies.

The environmental impact is one thing. But the business impact is another. Google's executives should also ask themselves: What kind of company do they want to be? Do they want to remain cloistered from the world, or engaged in it? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg chose to place his company in downtown Palo Alto, with all the difficulties that poses; his choice meant that his workers rub shoulders daily with Stanford students, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists — and, shockingly, people not involved in the tech industry. On the Googleplex, Googlers live in a world of sameness, with people who never challenge their technology-über-alles worldview.

Larry and Sergey have built themselves a candy-colored bubble on the outskirts of Mountain View. By inflating it, as they've chosen to do, they only increase the risk that a competitor more in touch with the real world will pop it.

At Google, what you often end up with instead of resource allocation is a laissez-faire mess. Take, for example, the hassles Dave Girouard had to face. Girouard is vice president in charge of Google Apps, the company's fledgling initiative to sell Web-based software applications to businesses. He wanted some alterations to Gmail to make the email product more appealing to his corporate customers. To do that, he needed to lobby Gmail engineers, who don't work for him. He likens his efforts to a Peace Corps mission: all heart but little power to enforce his will. Yet while Girouard is begging for engineers, others, like the Ooyala founders, get blank-check offers.

Google does everything it can to coddle its engineers, both financially and physically. By shifting from stock options to restricted shares, it has made their compensation less dependent on the swings of the market, and thus discouraged departures that might otherwise take place.

The management pool at Google is deep indeed, and some find themselves drowning in it. Making a splash is harder and harder, as the company reins in its chaos; to those fighting to get unloved projects launched, a clique close to Larry and Sergey seem to be the only ones at the company who matter.

Human-resources departments pride themselves on minimizing turnover. But Google's "people officers" might want to rethink their approach. A bit of churn could do the company good — from the top of the company on down.

Google has taken over san jose airport as they all go to disneyland for their company trip. Everyone is in love with them. Best moment...all flights are currently delayed so naturally the quick thinking googlera are buzzing gate agents trying to jump on other flights. Thankfully the airlines are not allowing googlera to change their group assigned tickets. I LOVE watching googlers argue in earnest only to be denied by the polite agent who lets escape a wry smile after each denial, much to the pleasure of nearby nongooglers. What ... Sergey's plane is too busy running NASA experiments to help out?

It turns out that, for the past several years, Google employees have staked out early spots in the Macworld keynote admissions line. Arriving well prepared with pizza, coffee and a tent, the Googlers "work" (is this twenty-percent time?) in shifts holding line spots so 40-50 Googlers can get good seats. I convinced a few of the them — including Marissa! — to speak to me for a couple minutes and pose for a picture. Why were they waiting in line so early? "The man gives a great presentation. Hopefully we can learn something."From left to right: Chrix Finne, Associate Product Manager - Google Reader; Nick Baum, Associate Product Manager - Android; David Murray, Associate Product Manager - Gmail; Fernando Delgado, Associate Product Manager - Search Quality; Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience; a friend of Marissa's whom I believe was named John.

That Google planned to hire a "director of other" who would engage in similar pointless visioneering while outranking Sacca was almost certainly his formal cue to leave. (We don't know if Sacca was smart enough to take it, or if his departure was cluelessly coincidental.) And to think, this middle manager is now going to advise entrepreneurs on how to run their business. More proof that Silicon Valley is a luckocracy.

Susan Wojcicki did not invent AdSense, Marissa Mayer wasn't really involved at all, and this dude is saying he's the "godfather" of the system? Perhaps true, but more in a distant-send-you-a-birthday-card definition of "godfather." Looks like Fortune realized the error. The title of the story now refers to Rajaram as an AdSense "developer," but look at the URL. The original headline "adsense-creator-leaves-google" is still up there. And Rajaram is still quoted as saying, "When we started AdSense ..."

AdSense was a product created by Applied Semantics, a company Google acquired after it hired Rajaram, so for him, starting AdSense would be an especially neat trick. Oh, Rajaram meant the in-house ad system Google claims it rebranded as AdSense after buying Applied Semantics? Well, why didn't he say so?

"Have you ever heard of Google?" asks associate product manager Alex Vogenthaler of a smiling man.

"No."

In total, Cerf is writing five books while on Google's payroll. Only one of them will spread the good word on the Internet. Besides that and the book of poetry, he's writing a book anecdotes, a biography of his wife and a book on the concept of bindings.

The rest of Cerf's time is spent as honorary chairman of the IPv6 Forum and assisting NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. And where does all this timewasting go down? Cerf is based in northern Virginia, but he also has an office in the Googleplex, two doors down from Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Schmidt might want to have Cerf spend a bit more time in the latter. (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)

Yesterday at Google's Analyst Day, Cerf told the crowd of 300 financial analysts and press that in the next few decades, scientists will have created an "interplanetary Web," connecting spacecraft, satellites and distant planets. Google will "help to organize it just like we organize" everything else, Cerf is quoted as saying, referring to Google's mission of organizing the world's information.

I'm sure its all true. But other than help inflate Google's share price relative to its earnings — there's a lot of room to grow in space, analysts might think — what the hell does it have to do with Google's third quarter? And now that we think about it, Google's mission is to organize the world's information, not the solar system's. So typical. He's doing that thing geeks always do to avoid work: Talk about how great the next version is going to be.

Berndt will work with agencies on using Google's new ad products — which now range from text links to banners, video, and radio ads — more creatively. He'll also, most importantly, work on Google's own marketing efforts. Only one problem, as I see it: He'll report to Lawee, whose job now becomes even more pointless with Berndt doing all the work. If only Google followed my Darwinian "Toogle Many Googlers" principle, which would require the axing of some Googlers — say, Lawee — to make room for new hires like Berndt.

Dear Trusted Testers:

Some of you may have recently seen the news about Adam Bosworth. Adam has decided to pursue other opportunities and is currently on vacation. While we are sad to see Adam go as he is a great talent and was instrumental in starting Google Health, we will be moving forward with our product plans and are 100% committed to health. Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products and User Experience and Adam's former manager at Google is leading the health team. Marissa had been keeping track of our product progress through weekly meetings with Adam and myself and other key Product Managers.

For those of you who may not know Marissa - she is best known for being the first female engineer at Google and helped launch Web Search. She currently owns the User Interface design for all search related products and manages over over a 100 Product Managers at Google who in turn influence thousands of engineers. She is known throughout the tech industry for her expertise in user interface design and user experience and has also been widely quoted and featured in prominent publications such as Newsweek ("10 Tech Leaders of the Future"), Red Herring ("15 Women to Watch"), Business 2.0 ("Silicon Valley Dream Team"), BusinessWeek, Fortune, and Fast Company. Her bio is included below to help you get familiar with her.

http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/execs.html#marissa

We also have recently added staff to the health team and we want to introduce you to them as you will be working with them on testing. Jerry Lin, M.B.A. recently joined Google as a Product Manager and will be managing coding and UI. Maneesh Arora, a seasoned Product Manager at Google, has come over to the health team and will be working on partner support and scaling our Third Party partner services. Roni Zeiger, M.D. will continue to work on the Health Guide and I will continue to be involved with partner integration. As many of you know, we launched our product internally for testing to a subset of Google employees on August 16, 2007. We are continuing to get feedback from employees and will be expanding the number of employees who can test in the next few weeks.

If you have any further questions about our staffing, feel free to contact my colleague Missy Krasner at missy@google.com

Thank you again for your ongoing support.

Eric Sachs
Product Manager
Google

Packed to the gills in its West Chelsea offices, Google is on the hunt for more office space in the neighborhood. And Schmidt himself has noted how a rampant hiring binge led to a squeeze on profits in the second quarter. Schmidt defended the overhiring, saying the people Google brought on were of such high quality that, in retrospect, company management didn't mind, but they're now easing back on adding new recruits. (We've been trying to help out with our "Toogle Many Googlers" series.)

Imagine how Googlers will feel when they learn that the real-estate crunch and the hiring cutbacks are partly because Schmidt felt the need to make room for his girlfriend. When you dial Google's New York number and get through to the automated phone directory, Marcy Simon's listed, and a tipster says she definitely has an office there. What her duties at Google are is unclear.

Also unclear is what happened to the job Simon, in February, landed at Ogilvy PR as a "senior advisor." Perhaps her colleagues at Ogilvy already felt they'd had enough advice?

The gall of Schmidt — whether he's actually put his girlfriend on the payroll, or just provided her scarce New York office space — puts us in mind of Charles II, the Restoration ruler of England. That king was famous for giving his mistresses royal titles, so it would be more seemly for him to consort with them. Perhaps Schmidt, in his imperial delusions, thinks that giving Simon a direct-dial line at Google will make his spending time with her seem less questionable.

Hardly so, of course. But we're nevertheless taking the occasion to crown Simon as the Duchess of West Chelsea. Because this is — how to put it delicately? — royal bullshit.

CEO Eric Schmidt says of Reyes:Though we fully appreciate his decision to step back from active management, we'll miss his thoughtfulness, good humor and wisdom.What he means:

That Reyes sure made us laugh a lot, especially when he tried to make us plan budgets, didn't he?

He has done an excellent job in keeping us financially disciplined while protecting the best of our entrepreneurial culture.

Reyes didn't warn us loudly enough that we were hiring too many people, so he's out of here.

Working at Google these past 5 and a half years has been an extraordinary ride.

Stop the world, I want to get off.