Google LLC said today it has fired 48 people since 2016 over sexual harassment allegations, and that included 13 senior managers at the company.

The news followed an expose in the New York Times Thursday, which alleged that the man behind Android, Andy Rubin (pictured), was let go in 2014 over allegations of sexual misconduct. This was not made public at the time.

Moreover, the report said Rubin was let go with a payout amounting to $90 million, while Google’s then-Chief Executive Larry Page praised Rubin for his “truly remarkable” creation of the Android operating system.

The allegation is that while Rubin was having an affair with an employee at the company, he had coerced her into having oral sex in 2013 in a hotel room. Google investigated the claim and found it to be credible. Page subsequently asked for Rubin’s resignation.

The Times report also said other senior executives had been accused of sexual misconduct and Google kept it quiet while giving them handsome packages of millions of dollars after they were let go.

Following the story, Rubin said in a statement that it contained “numerous inaccuracies” and “wild exaggerations.”

“I never coerced a woman to have sex in a hotel room,” said Rubin. “These false allegations are part of a smear campaign by my ex-wife to disparage me during a divorce and custody battle.”

Current Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai wrote an email to employees after the publication of the story. Pichai said the Times story was “difficult to read” and said Google is “dead serious about making sure we provide and inclusive workplace.”

He said the company had taken a hardline on inappropriate conduct over the past few years and 48 people had been let go, including 13 senior managers. He added that none of those people had received “an exit package.”

Rubin, who was somewhat the golden boy of Google, was said to have gotten away with sometimes bad behavior. At one point, according to the report, Rubin had a bonus docked after “bondage sex videos” were found on his computer. It’s also said he had relationships with multiple women at the company during his time there.

“In a normal world this would mean Rubin is done, but tech has not just been forgiving, some tech sees little wrong with this,” tweeted consumer tech analyst Carolina Milanesi, mirroring what many others were saying. “I’d like to think Google will clean up its act if anything to avoid having a retention problem with their female employees.”

Photo: karitsu via Flickr