Google has agreed to pay more than $3.8 million to settle accusations that the company discriminated against women and Asian-Americans, the Department of Labor announced Monday.
The Department of Labor found evidence of a gender pay gap and hiring discrimination at Google’s facilities in California and Washington State, according to a news release. The company agreed to pay more than 5,500 employees and applicants for back pay and interest. (RELATED: REPORT: Google Deleted Nearly 100,000 Negative Ratings From Robinhood)
News from the Dept. of Labor: Google reached a settlement on the “systemic compensation and hiring discrimination” case at the company’s offices in CA and WA. Google agreed to pay over $3.8 mil to more than 5,500 current employees and job applicants in backpay and interest pic.twitter.com/1LBDbsbydt
— april glaser (@aprilaser) February 1, 2021
Google will pay 2,565 female employees more than $1.3 million in back pay and interest for the gender pay gap and will pay 2,976 female or Asian job applicants more than $1.2 million for software engineering positions that they were not hired for. The company also agreed to keep more than $1.2 million in a cash reserve for the next five years for pay-equity adjustments at four of Google’s facilities, which employ about half of the company’s engineering employees.
“The U.S. Department of Labor acknowledges Google’s willingness to engage in settlement discussions and reach an early resolution,” Jane Suhr, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Regional Director, said in a statement.
“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.”