March 30th, 2026
Posted By
Kerry V. O’Brien

On March 26, 2026, the O'Brien Law Firm took over as lead counsel for two former Google sales executives, in a fight over their claims for a combined $2.7 million of withheld bonus compensation. The O'Brien Law Firm was specially brought in to maximize the outcome for these hardworking clients in this significant case.

As alleged in the lawsuit, these two sales representatives worked on a team that secured an AI services contract with AT&T - one of the largest such deals in Google's history. It took an enormous amount of teamwork, negotiation, and expertise to get the deal done, and on great terms for Google. Pursuant to the very specific terms of the applicable sales comp plan, these two sales representatives and other members of their team had earned substantial bonuses from the deal. Only calculation of the bonus amounts and payment remained.

However, after the sale had already closed, Google changed the formula for calculating their bonuses that took away approximately $1.7 million and $1 million in otherwise-earned bonus money, respectively, from these two sales representatives. This appears to be the type of situation that the O'Brien Law Firm has seen many times, where a company is unwilling to pay a large earned bonus simply because they do not want a sales representative to "win too much." The company essentially moves the goalposts when the kick is already in the air.

At the same time, from the sales representatives' perspectives, they worked all along with the expectation that their bonuses would be paid according to the formula they were given near the beginning of the sales process. One can imagine how deeply disappointing it would be to have a life-changing amount of money stripped away from you after you've already held up your end of the bargain. (For context, their combined $2.7 million bonus claim amounts to around 0.00000675% of Google's recent annual revenue of around $400 billion.)

The case is Civil Action No. 4:24-cv-01037, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas - Sherman Division. The presiding judge in the case is Chief District Judge Amos L. Mazzant, III.