A Google executive has left the company with no severance after he was accused of sexually harassing a young female job applicant by inviting her to Burning Man and asking her to take of her shirt for a massage.

Google parent Alphabet confirmed on Wednesday that Rich DeVaul had left the company as tensions heightened over how they handle such matters of sexual harassment allegations.

News of his departure came as female employees were trying to organize a walk-out on Thursday to protest lenient handling of sexual misconduct in the workplace.

DeVaul worked as a director at X lab, a research and development company within Google that aims to develop 'moonshot' technologies.

Google executive Rich DeVaul left the company on Tuesday with no severance after he was accused of sexually harassing a young female job applicant

Alphabet declined to share any details about DeVaul's departure from the company on Tuesday.

DeVaul was one of three Google executives featured in a New York Times report last week focusing on how the company handles sexual harassment allegations.

He was accused of telling a young female hardware engineer during her job interview that he and his wife were 'polyamorous'.

DeVaul invited the woman to visit the Burning Man festival with him the week after her interview. The woman said she took her mother along because she thought it was an opportunity to speak about the role.

She claims DeVaul asked her to take off her shirt for a back rub when they were at the festival. She refused initially but agreed to a neck rub after DeVaul kept insisting.

The woman was told a few weeks later that she had not received the job and was not given an explanation. She reported the incident to Google two years later and a human resources official told her the incident was being dealt with.

Google parent Alphabet confirmed on Wednesday that Rich DeVaul had left the company as tensions heightened over how they handle such matters of sexual harassment allegations

The woman was asked to remain quiet about the incident but spoke out recently after DeVaul's name and profile started rising in various news reports.

DeVaul apologized last week and described it as an 'error of judgment'.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai sent a message to employees late Tuesday, saying he has heard from many employees on the subject of inappropriate behavior at work and was 'deeply sorry for the past actions and the pain they have caused employees.'

'As CEO, it's been personally important to me that we take a much harder line on inappropriate behavior,' Pichai said in the message.

He said that Google had fired 48 employees in the past two years - including 13 senior executives - as a result of sexual harassment allegations.

The NYT's report stated that senior Google employee, Android creator Andy Rubin, received an exit package worth $90 million as he faced allegations of misconduct, and that Google had covered up other claims of sexual harassment.

DeVaul worked as a director at X lab, a research and development company (pictured above) within Google that aims to develop 'moonshot' technologies

Rubin's spokesman, Sam Singer, rejected the allegations against him in a statement, saying Rubin left Google of his own accord to launch venture capital firm and technology incubator Playground.

Asked by media for its reaction, Google released an email sent to employees from Pichai stating that none of the people who resigned or were terminated due to sexual harassment concerns in the past two years received 'an exit package'.

'We are dead serious about making sure we provide a safe and inclusive workplace,' Pichai said in the email shared last week.

'We want to assure you that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and we take action.'

Concerns being expressed by women at Alphabet have added to the growing chorus of voices denouncing the existence of a sexist culture in male-dominated Silicon Valley, which has knocked a number of internet industry executives at other tech giants from their perches.

Accusations concerning the lack of women in tech jobs and unfair or crude treatment endured by some in the industry have simmered for years, occasionally boiling over.