Google Discrimination Case Opens New Avenues For Justice
- Technology
Sophia Silva- 0
- 6 minutes read
On 12.06.2022 (Sunday) Google said that it was very pleasing to be “settling” the Google discrimination case 2022 without admission of wrongdoing, a class-action lawsuit that asserted it underpaid its female employees and offered them lower ranking positions.
Google Discrimination Case: The Verdict
The $118 million settlement covers nearly 15,500 female employees who have worked for Google in California since September 2013 the law firms Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP and Altshuler Berzon LLP stated in a statement that was released on Friday night.
The entity also agreed for a third party to evaluate its compensation and hiring practices as part of this settlement. In a statement to AFP, Google said that,
"While we strongly believe in the equity of our policies and practices, after nearly five years of litigation, both sides agreed that resolution of the matter, without any admission or findings, was in the best interest of everyone, and we're very pleased to reach this agreement."
In 2017, various former Google employees sued this company in a San Francisco court, blaming it for paying women less in comparison to men for equivalent positions and offering women lower positions in comparison to men with similar experiences as they had previously earned smaller salaries. As per a copy of the agreement issued by the law firms,
"Google denies all of the allegations in the lawsuit and maintains that it has fully complied with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations at all times."
A judge must still sanction the agreement against the google discrimination case, the two law firms for the plaintiffs stated. Previously, Google agreed in 2021 to pay $3.8 million to the US Department of Labor over accusations that the company had discriminated against women and Asians.
The tech giant also stated that the company is,
“absolutely committed to paying, hiring, and leveling all employees fairly and equally.”
Google further emphasized that it does “upward adjustments” if it ever finds a pay disparity among its male and female employees. Notably, the terms of the settlement are still required to be approved by a judge in a hearing that is scheduled for June 21.
Google Discrimination Case And Other Cases That Is In The Line
The Google discrimination case came forward in the news and so people are talking about this company. But other than that there are many big companies who have been sued for various reasons.
- Amazon was accused in lawsuits last year of having the hiring procedures and COVID-19 safety measures that were racially biased, along with discriminating against a pregnant transgender man.
- The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which is a private philanthropy operated by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, was sued by employees who stated Black employees are “undervalued, underpaid, and marginalized.”
- Disney was also sued in 2019 over gender-based discrimination of pay, and several more women joined the lawsuit in 2021.
- Facebook became the matter of a federal complaint blaming that the company is fully biased against candidates and Black employees.
- E-host of Fox News Ed Henry was blamed for sexual assault, while hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Howard Kurtz, and also Gianno Caldwell were all blamed for harassment in a lawsuit by a previous producer.
- Hearst, the parent entity of Esquire magazine, was sued in 2021 by an ex-executive at Esquire who asserted that she encountered age and gender discrimination from her former boss.
- Johnson & Johnson was also sued by an ex-executive who asserted that she encountered “sexist, harassing and demeaning” behavior from male coworkers because of her sexual and gender orientation.
Conclusion
This is not the first time that Google has faced scrutiny for Google gender discrimination. Just the previous year, this company agreed to pay $2.5 million for settling a lawsuit that asserted that Google underpaid female engineers and it also overlooked Asian job applicants. Along with that, the California DFEH (Department of Fair Employment and Housing) is also investigating this company over complaints of the Google discrimination case against black female employees and also sexism at Google. There are many examples of gender discrimination cases won and many more will be imprinted in the history of big techs. Many such examples should now be an example for big tech companies on how to treat their employees.
