Juul, the San Francisco e-cigarette startup that city officials want to kick out, is trying to buy a 29-floor office tower in the heart of the city

• E-cigarette startup Juul Labs is reportedly in talks to purchase a 29-floor building in downtown San Francisco as it struggles to house a rapidly growing workforce.
• The startup has come under intense scrutiny from federal and local officials for its role in popularizing vaping with youth, the health consequences of which are still undetermined.
• A Juul spokesperson confirmed that the company's headcount grew from 200 to 2,000 people in the last year and that a majority of those jobs are based in San Francisco.
• The San Francisco Chronicle reported the deal would be among the largest in San Francisco history for a tech company that doesn't specialize in real estate.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Juul Labs, an e-cigarette startup that has raised more than $12 billion in funding, is reportedly nearing a deal to purchase a high-rise building in downtown San Francisco to house its rapidly growing staff.

According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday, Juul has its sights on 123 Mission Street, a 29-floor building near the city's Transbay area in the Financial District. The company recently purchased a renovated historic building near Pier 70 in the city's developing Dogpatch neighborhood, the report said.

Read More: Founders Fund made its first alcohol investment. Here's how the 28-year old woman who founded the company is trying to change drinking culture for the better.

Juul spokesperson Ted Kwong would not confirm the report, but said that the company had grown from 200 employees to 2,000 in the last year, with a a majority of the workers located in the company's San Francisco headquarters.

"As a result, we are currently looking for additional office space in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area, but we have nothing to announce at this time," Kwong told Business Insider via email.

Juul first gained notoriety for its aggressive marketing for its flavored e-cigarettes aimed at teens. The company is now partly owned by Altria, the tobacco giant that makes Marlboro cigarettes, and has come under intense scrutiny from federal and local health officials for its claims that vaping is a healthy alternative to cigarettes.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle report, the building in question is five times the size of the company's current office space, and was last sold in 2018 for $290 million. If Juul purchases the building, the deal will be one of the largest in San Francisco history for a tech company that doesn't specialize in real estate, according to the report.

The company's Dogpatch presence ignited a firestorm among San Francisco politicians and residents, and officials introduced legislation in March that would prohibit e-cigarette companies like Juul from occupying city-owned property, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.

SEE ALSO: Divvy, the Utah startup that keeps a safe distance from the 'noise' of Silicon Valley, just raised $200 million in its 3rd funding round in a year

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source https://www.businessinsider.com/juul-labs-reportedly-purchasing-downtown-san-francisco-high-rise-2019-5

Googlers across the country are staging a big 'sit-in' because they say organizers of November's sexual harassment walkouts were retaliated against (GOOG, GOOGL)

• Google employees in offices around the world are staging a May Day "sit-in" on Wednesday to protest what they say are instances of workplace retaliation at the tech giant. 
• The sit-in was prompted by the case of two employees who said they were demoted and forced to give up some of their duties after they helped organize November walkouts to call attention to sexual harassment at the company.
• The sit-ins are taking place at 11AM local time in offices across the globe. 
• In New York, there were reportedly more than 200 Google employees who took part in the demonstration, reading and listening to instances of retaliation. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Google employees in offices around the world are staging a May Day "sit-in" on Wednesday to protest what they say is pattern of of retaliation against workers who speak out for change at the tech giant. 

The sit-in was prompted after two employees who helped organize the November Walkouts — Meredith Whittaker and Claire Stapleton — said Google demoted them and forced them to give up some of their duties in response to their organizing efforts. 

"My manager started ignoring me, my work was given to other people, and I was told to go on medical leave, even though I'm not sick," Stapleton said in an internal email sent to Google employees. "While my work has been restored, the environment remains hostile and I consider quitting nearly every day."

Read more: Two Google employees who spearheaded the walkout against sexual misconduct say the company has retaliated and demoted them

On Wednesday, other Google employees are joining Whittaker and Stapleton in sharing their stories of retaliation. The sit-ins are taking place at 11 AM local time in offices across the globe. 

In New York, there were reportedly more than 200 employees who took part in the demonstration, reading and listening to instances of retaliation. 

#NotOkGoogle story: "I had a manager with clear favorites — he even openly called them his “proteges.” After a year on the team, during perf, I gave my manager an average manager review. In an effort to find out who wrote what about him, he read all his review feedback ...

— Google Walkout For Real Change (@GoogleWalkout) May 1, 2019

 

Employees in Cambridge, London, and Pittsburgh have also reportedly taken part. Stories will also be shared throughout the day on Twitter via the hashtag, #NotOkGoogle. 

In response to the sit-ins, a Google spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement: "We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy. To make sure that no complaint raised goes unheard at Google, we give employees multiple channels to report concerns, including anonymously, and investigate all allegations of retaliation."

This story is developing. 

Do you work at Google? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via Signal or WhatsApp at +1 (209) 730-3387 using a non-work phone, email at nbastone@businessinsider.com, Telegram at nickbastone, or Twitter DM at @nickbastone.

SEE ALSO: Google launched a new internal portal to help employees report workplace issues, and it's hoping the number of reports goes up as a result

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source https://www.businessinsider.com/google-sit-in-to-protest-workplace-retaliation-2019-5

A Norwegian Cruise Line employee sexually assaulted an 11-year-old passenger after using a master key to enter her cabin, a lawsuit alleges (NCLH)

• A new lawsuit alleges that a Norwegian Cruise Line employee sexually assaulted an 11-year-old passenger.
• In 2018, a steward on Norwegian's Spirit cruise ship entered a passenger's cabin with a master key after being told not to do so, touching and ultimately sexually assaulting an 11-year-old female passenger, the lawsuit alleges.
• The passenger was then subjected to questioning conducted exclusively by male employees for around three-and-a-half hours in the ship's infirmary, according to the lawsuit.
• Norwegian Cruise Line did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Norwegian Cruise Line employee sexually assaulted an 11-year-old passenger, a lawsuit alleges. 

According to the plaintiff, referred to in the complaint as Jane Doe, Norwegian failed to provide a safe environment for passengers. The company did not properly screen, train, or keep track of its employees and did not give passengers a way to prevent employees from entering their cabins without their permission, the lawsuit alleges.

Read more: Sexual assault is the most common crime reported on cruise ships

In 2018, a steward on Norwegian's Spirit cruise ship entered Jane Doe's cabin after being told to not disturb the plaintiff's daughter, referred to in the complaint as Janie Doe, as she was resting, according to the lawsuit. The steward, who was around 27 at the time of the alleged incident, entered the room with a master key on four separate occasions, touching and ultimately sexually assaulting Janie Doe, the lawsuit alleges. Before leaving the cabin, the steward allegedly told Janie Doe to refrain from telling anyone about the sexual assault.

Janie Doe was then subjected to questioning conducted exclusively by male employees for around three-and-a-half hours in the ship's infirmary, the lawsuit alleges. According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe made multiple requests for her and Janie Doe to leave the infirmary and was not permitted to do so until she "demanded" they be allowed to exit.

Norwegian Cruise Line did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sexual assault is the most common crime reported on cruise ships, according to data from the Department of Transportation (DOT). In 2018, cruise lines reported 82 alleged sexual assaults to the DOT.

SEE ALSO: A lawyer warns of a legal nightmare you can face on a ship

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source https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-line-employee-sexually-assaulted-young-passenger-lawsuit-alleges-2019-5