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Google has sacked 48 people for sexual harassment in the last two years, it has emerged.

The terminations included 13 senior managers.

Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, made the announcement in an email to all employees on Thursday.

The email, obtained by CNBC, was in response to a New York Times story that the tech giant had protected Android creator Andy Rubin despite misconduct allegations. Mr Rubin denied the accusations.

Mr Pichai’s email, co-signed by vice president of people operations Eileen Naughton, read: “We are dead serious about making sure we provide a safe and inclusive workplace. We want to assure you that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and we take action.

“In recent years, we've made a number of changes, including taking an increasingly hard line on inappropriate conduct by people in positions of authority. In the last two years, 48 people have been terminated for sexual harassment, including 13 who were senior managers and above. None of these individuals received an exit package.”

The email goes on: “We are committed to ensuring that Google is a workplace where you can feel safe to do your best work, and where there are serious consequences for anyone who behaves inappropriately.”

Mr Pichai added the company now provides "confidential channels" to report inappropriate behaviour.