In recent months, President Donald Trump and right-leaning media have attacked Google for allegedly showing anti-conservative bias in its search results and workplace culture. While Google denied those criticisms, a lawsuit the search giant filed earlier this year against a former employee could fuel the perception that Google treats employees with conservative views unfavorably.

The former employee, a software engineer who worked at Google for several years until earlier this year, alleges Google fired him because of his politics. Google claims it let him go for allegedly stealing company documents that were protected by attorney-client privilege, according to people familiar with the case. The company then brought a confidential lawsuit against the former employee—now being heard in an arbitration proceeding—over the alleged document theft.