The New YorkerOn Sunday, Google settled a class-action lawsuit that said it underpaid women workers and gave them lower-ranking jobs. Google did not admit that it did anything wrong.
In a statement released Friday night, the law firms Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP and Altshuler Berzon LLP said that the settlement covers about 15,500 women who have worked for the company in California since September 2013.
As part of the deal, the company agreed to let someone from outside the company look into its hiring and pay policies.
According to a statement from Google, both sides agreed that “settlement of the dispute, without admission or conclusions, was in everyone’s best interest after almost five years of litigation, and we’re very happy to reach this agreement.”
Several former Google workers sued the firm in San Francisco last year, claiming that the corporation paid women less than males for the same roles and assigned women to inferior positions because they had previously earned lower salaries.
According to a copy of the agreement shared by the legal firms, “Google rejects all of the accusations in the case and maintains that it has completely complied with all relevant laws, rules, and regulations at all times.”
The agreement must be approved by the court, the plaintiffs’ lawyers stated in a statement.
Previously, Google agreed to pay the US Department of Labor $3.8 million in 2021 to settle charges that it had discriminated against women and Asians in the workplace.