Google ‘bro culture’ led to violence, sexual harassment against female engineer, lawsuit alleges

A logo sign outside of the headquarters of Google on Jan. 24, 2016 in Mountain View, Calif. (Kristoffer Tripplaar/Sipa USA/TNS)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California: As a young, female software engineer at male-dominated Google, Loretta Lee was slapped, groped and even had a co-worker pop up from beneath her desk one night and tell her she'd never know what he'd been doing under there, according to a lawsuit filed against the company. 

The lawsuit comes as Silicon Valley's tech industry, dominated by white men, has been roiled by a series of sexual-misconduct scandals and gender-related upheavals as the #MeToo movement against sexual assault of women has prompted a nationwide cultural reckoning.