The headquarters of Google, California, where the gender inequality lawsuit was filed. Photo by Reuters
Google has to pay 118 million dollars to resolve a class action lawsuit that accuses the Internet giant of discriminate against women by their salary and rank at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, in the United States.
the deal includes approximately 15,500 female employees who have worked in California since September 2013, details a press release released late Friday by the law firms that won class action: Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and Altshuler Berzon. The company also accepted that third parties did an analysis of their practices hiring and wages from a gender perspective.
“After nearly five years of litigation, both sides agreed that to resolve the case without admission (of liability) or conclusion, It is the best for everyone. And we are very happy to reach this agreement, “a Google spokesperson told AFP news agency.
The complaint was filed by former Google employees in 2017 before a San Francisco court, where they claimed the Internet giant women were paid less than men for the same positionsand that they appointed them to lower-ranking positions despite having experience and qualifications equivalent to men, under the pretext of basing them on their previous salaries.
According to the text of the agreement, revealed by lawyers, Google “denies all allegations contained in the complaint and claims that (the group) has always fully complied with all applicable laws, rules and regulations.” deal now must be approved by a judge.
Google, with a gender perspective and an Asian background
The giant Google had already reached an agreement before another lawsuit for discrimination against employees of Asian descent in 2021. Photo AFP
“We are absolutely committed to paying, hiring and leveling all employees fairly and fairly“, stressed the company spokesperson in the publication.
“If we find any difference in wages, even between men and women, we will adjust upward to eliminate them before the new salary comes into effect, and we will continue to do so, “he added.
The algorithm’s search engine had already made a deal in 2021 to pay $ 3.8 million per work department of the United States after the allegations of discrimination against Asian women and employees.
Most of this money it would be used to compensate 2,565 women hired by Google in engineering expensesand 3,000 Asian male and female candidates who were not selected for those positions.
Google said at the time that discrimination was found during an internal analysis and that the company has agreed to pay this amount to correct the situation. At the same time, he denied breaking the law.
For several years, inequality between men and women has been a sensitive issue in Silicon Valley, the cradle of new technologies and the sector largely male dominated.
In August 2017, Google fired an engineer who had published a blog claiming that the reduced presence of women in the technology sector explained by “biological” factors..
In the course of 2018, Google announced it had a formula to stop the wage gap that historically exists between male and female employees. They claimed they did an algorithm for setting magnifications.
“Each boss receives the salary and salary increase proposal from their employees based on an algorithm, if the person’s gender is not part of the data which is given to the algorithm and where it is considered what position it has, what level, what was its evaluation, what objectives it had and what it has achieved. It is the algorithm itself that proposes salary increases every year and the salary scheme for each employee “, said the general manager of Google Spain and Portugal at the time. Fuencisla Clemares.
Source: Telam
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Source: Clarin
