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San Francisco, CA — Google LLC has urged a California federal court to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the tech giant wrongfully fired an employee due to his bipolar disorder. Instead, Google argued the termination was justified by threatening emails the employee sent rather than his mental illness.

In a motion filed Friday, Google requested summary judgment in the lawsuit brought by former employee Steven Newman. Newman alleges discrimination, retaliation, and failure to accommodate in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).

Newman, who filed his complaint in May 2022, claims he experienced a manic episode in mid-2020 that led him to send "unusual emails" to colleagues, mostly about wanting to buy the company's gSuite for billions of dollars. He contends he was fired shortly after his doctor cleared him to return to work.

Google disputes these claims, stating that several of Newman's emails while on medical leave contained threats of violence against a former supervisor and detailed how he would carry out such plans. The tech company asserts these emails violated corporate policies and justified Newman's termination.

"Where, as here, an employee makes threats of physical violence to or against a coworker, that employee is not a qualified individual with a disability under the ADA, and the employer has a legitimate basis for termination and no obligation to engage in an interactive process or make a reasonable accommodation," Google wrote in its motion.

Citing the Ninth Circuit's 2015 decision in *Mayo v. PCC Structurals*, Google noted that the ADA does not require employers to risk the safety of their workforce. In that case, a welder diagnosed with major depressive disorder was fired for threatening gun violence against colleagues.

Newman began working for Google in April 2018 and received positive performance reviews for the first two years. However, in July 2020, he experienced his first manic episode and sent emails Google deemed inappropriate. His wife informed Google of his bipolar disorder diagnosis, leading him to take short-term disability leave.

Upon Newman's request to return to work in January 2021, Google kept him on administrative leave pending an investigation. The company eventually terminated him in April 2021 for violating its code of conduct.

Newman contends that his emails were not genuinely threatening, but merely expressions of frustration. He argues that Google misinterpreted his words and points out that his father supervised him full-time during his medical leave due to his bipolar disorder.

However, Google highlighted several emails from Newman that were sent to former supervisors in October 2020. In these messages, Newman referred to his fists as "stronger than sledgehammers" and called colleagues derogatory names. He also warned a former manager in Canada that he could end the person's career or life if he weren't a Christian.

The company clarified that it waited until Newman was cleared to work before interviewing him as part of an investigation into potential policy violations. When questioned about the emails, Newman attributed them to his frustration and poor mental state.

"Google is not (and was not) required to merely hope that the threatened violence would not occur in the future," the company wrote in its motion.