- The US Department of Labor alleges systemic pay and hiring discrimination.
- It involves underpaid female engineers and overlooked Asian applicants.
- The US Department of Labor found that female software engineers were being underpaid.
- The alleged disparities impacted employees at Google’s office.
Google will pay $2.6 million to more than 5,500 employees and past job applicants. The company will resolve allegations that the internet giant discriminated against female engineers and Asians in California and Washington state. The settlement announced on Monday closes a four-year-old case that the Labour Department brought as part of its periodic reviews of the pay practices at federal government contractors such as Google.
The inquiry resulted in accusations over a period spanning from 2014 to 2017. Google paid female engineers less than men in similar positions as per the inquiry. The pay discrepancies were cited in several Google offices in its home state of California, as well as at locations in Seattle and Kirkland, Washington.
Female engineers were paid less
In similar positions during 2014 to 2017 Female Engineers were paid less in Google. The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) uncovered what it termed “systemic” problems over the course of a routine compliance evaluation” focused on Google’s Mountain View, California; Seattle, Washington; and Kirkland, Washington offices in between 2014 and 2017.
Notably, those millions aren’t going to the Department of Labor. Now, Google will pay $1.35 million of it is back pay and interest. The beneficiaries include 2,565 women working in engineering positions subject to pay discrimination. An additional $1.23 million is slated for both women and Asian applicants.
Google will pay millions to underpaid applicants
Google will be forced to cough up roughly $3.8 million to settle allegations of pay and hiring discrimination, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday. At issue were allegations that the company paid women engineers less than their male counterparts and had a hiring process that disadvantaged both women and Asian applicants for software engineering roles.
The $1.35 million of it is back pay and interest will be paid to 2,565 women working in engineering positions subject to pay discrimination. An additional $1.23 million is slated for both women and Asian applicants. Google will also set aside $1,250,000 for pay-equity adjustments, for a total of $3.8 million to resolve this issue. That $1.25 million is earmarked for engineers in Mountain View, Seattle, Kirkland, and New York, which house 50 percent of Google’s engineering staff in the US, according to the Department of Labor
