United States: Google ordered to pay $3.8 million (€3.16 mm) for pay and hiring discrimination

On 01 February, the U.S. Federal Department of Labor issued a press release announcing it had reached a settlement agreement with Google LLC to pay $2.6 million (€2.16 million) in compensation to 2,565 female employees for pay discrimination between 2014 and 2017. The Tech giant also agreed to pay $1.2 million (€1.0 million) to unsuccessful software engineering candidates for hiring discrimination, including 1,700 female applicants and 1,200 applicants of Asian origin. This now settles a number of lawsuits initiated four years ago after the Department of Labor had identified pay and hiring discrimination in software engineering positions during a routine compliance evaluation. Google also committed to ‘review its current policies, procedures and practices related to hiring, compensation; conduct analyses; and take corrective action to ensure non-discrimination.’ Lastly, the settlement provides for Google to set aside reserves of at least $1,250,000 (€1.04 million), for a period of 5 years that can be used to compensate for employee-remuneration disparities in engineering or equivalent positions at the head office in California and in Kirkland, Seattle, and New York. Federal Contract Compliance Programs Regional Director Jane Suhr, stated, “The technology industry continues to be one of the region’s largest and fastest growing employers. Regardless of how complex or the size of the workforce, we remain committed to enforcing equal opportunity laws to ensure non-discrimination and equity in the workforce.” The announcement further tarnishes Google’s image, coming as it does just one month after the company announced the establishment of a trade union body for more than 200 of its employees in the United States (c.f. article No.12288), who have also denounced ‘discrimination’ at the firm.