I'm not sure what you are not clear on here. If someone says I quit/resign then they quit period, they were not fired. The two weeks period is just to prevent unemployment fraud.

So if you say I will find another job if the company doesn’t take action like... pay me more, agree to union terms, stop my manager from harassing me, or stop what I think is an unethical abuse of the public... then I am defacto quitting?

In that case how can an employee have a negotiation with a company at all? The power to refuse working is literally the only power the employee has at the negotiation.

A threat to quit isn't actually quitting any more than a threat to fire someone is actually firing them.

Isn't it standard for quitting senior employees to be paid to sit at home on their notice period? It seems like a bad idea for someone leaving to retain their systems access for 2 weeks... That's Google right really, so unless her last pay cheque was short 2 weeks money, she quit and "worked" her notice from home.

Apparently it went down like

Gebru: I have concerns that I'd like addressed that are important enough to me that I would quit over them, we can talk about it in more depth when I get back from my previously scheduled vacation.

Google: Don't bother coming back, you're no longer an employee.

Just like a threat to fire someone isn't actually firing someone, a threat to quit isn't actually quitting.

Her demands were quite specific and she did list a date.

I'm happy enough to say it's not clear cut quitting. But what's the difference really? She didn't want to stay, they didn't want her to stay, beyond that it's like a couple asking who dumped who.

I probably should have said "leaving employees" in my comment above...

> she did list a date.

Citation?

> I'm happy enough to say it's not clear cut quitting.

It's clear cut firing.

And the difference is that it colors Google's public statements on the matter with their blatant misrepresentation of the facts.

Fact is any company will ever be as good as their executives. People are people, so there's no reason to believe in magic fairy tales. From outside this looks like manager panic, on both sides.

I don't agree that setting a date makes it a firing. If someone is looking to leave soon, there may be cause not to involve them in confidential company plans. It's a risk to take with little benefit.