Like many other technology companies, Google has had its fair share of negative press as regards sexual harassment in the workplace, gender discrimination and infringing on marginalised groups, so much so that walkouts have happened across the globe.
While there is indeed more needed to be done across the industry when it comes to the aforementioned issues, some female employees have taken a significant step after Google announced that it has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit to the tune of $118 million.
The lawsuit affects an estimated 15 500 women, Bloomberg reported (paywall) at the weekend, with it resulting in the big tech company reassessing its hiring policies and equity pay status.
“Plaintiffs’ law firms Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP and Altshuler Berzon LLP announced today that Plaintiffs have reached an agreement with Defendant Google LLC ( ‘Google’), in which Google will pay $118 million to settle a class action gender discrimination lawsuit, Ellis v. Google LLC, No. CGC-17-561299, pending since 2017. The settlement covers approximately 15,500 female employees in 236 job titles (‘covered positions’) in California since September 14, 2013,” explained a press release on the matter.
“In addition to monetary relief, the Settlement provides that an independent third party expert will analyze Google’s leveling-at-hire practices and that an independent labor economist will review Google’s pay equity studies,” it added.
Whether the latter two elements are indeed being looked at remains to be seen, but Google will now have to pay up for gender discrimination practices that date back nearly a decade.
“The post-settlement work will be supervised by an external Settlement Monitor over the next three years. The lawsuit challenged Google’s pay and leveling processes, and Plaintiffs believe these programs will help ensure that women are not paid less than their male counterparts who perform substantially similar work, and that Google’s challenged leveling practices are equitable,” the press release continued.
Google may have agreed to settle, but this decision will still need to heard by a judge on 21st June. As such, we will still need to see if this will be a win.
[Image – Photo by Alex Dudar on Unsplash]
