Google has agreed to pay $118 million to settle a class-action gender discrimination lawsuit involving approximately 15,500 women.
Google also requires an independent labor economist to evaluate its hiring practices and pay equity study, according to the press release attached to the agreement.
The lawsuit first surfaced in 2017 when three women filed a complaint citing a pay disparity of nearly $17,000 accusing the company of underpaying female employees in violation of California’s Equal Pay Act.
According to the Equal Pay Act, as amended from January 1, 2019, employers cannot explain any pay disparity between employees of the opposite sex, or employees of different race or ethnicity, on the basis of an employee’s prior pay Huh.
According to the website of the California Government’s Department of Industrial Relations: “The amended Equal Pay Act prohibits an employer from paying any of its employee pay rates that are comparable to those paid to employees of the opposite sex, or of any other race, or of any other ethnicity.” for substantially similar work, when viewed as a combination of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions.”
Additionally, it states that under current law, an employee must demonstrate that he or she is being paid less than an employee or employees of the opposite sex, a different race, or a different ethnicity who perform substantially the same work. are. Once an employee has demonstrated this, the employer must demonstrate that the pay disparity is valid.
An employer can defeat a Equal Pay Act claim by proving that the difference in pay for equal work is due to seniority, merit, a system that measures output and/or is based on gender, race or ethnicity. In addition there is a real factor.
The complaint against Google claims that Google forces women into lower-level positions, resulting in lower salaries and bonuses than their male counterparts. Last year, the plaintiffs were granted class-action status.
It is noteworthy that the behavior of Google employees has been questioned more than once. Google agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a complaint alleging it underpaid female engineers and ignored Asian job applications last year.
Meanwhile, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is also investigating allegations of possible harassment and discrimination against black female employees at the corporation.
However, as reported by The Verge, Google said in a statement: “While we strongly believe in the equality of our policies and practices, after nearly five years of litigation, both parties agreed that That the resolution of the matter, without any acknowledgments or conclusions, was in everyone’s interest, and we are very happy to have reached this settlement.”
Additionally, it said that the company is fully committed to paying, hiring and leveling all employees fairly and equitably, and if it discovers pay disparities between male and female employees, it will ” upper adjustment”.
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