Google reached an agreement this Sunday to pay 118 million dollars (about 113.2 million euros) to resolve a lawsuit in which the technology giant was accused of gender discrimination by paying employees less womenpractices that he denies having committed.
The American multinational thus closes the collective lawsuit that three former employees filed in 2017 before the Superior Court of San Francisco, denouncing that they had been given lower-level jobs and with a salary lower than other male colleagues with similar qualifications and who had also been denied promotion to higher-ranking work groups.
Despite the fact that it does not admit having committed these crimes, Google has reached an economic agreement that covers some 15,500 employees who were part of the company in California and who held 236 jobs since September 2013. In addition to shelving five years of litigation, the settlement includes a group of independent experts who will review the policies of hiring of Google and will study if there pay equity or gender discrimination.
Agreement without admission
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In the resolution agreement between both parties there is “no admission or conclusions”, but it does include the company’s commitment to pay, hire and balance all its employees in an equitable manner. “Now they have the opportunity to lead the charge to ensure inclusion and fairness for women in technology,” said Holly Pease, one of the plaintiffs.
It is not the first time that Google has been accused of having a patriarchal culture in which favorable treatment is given to men, something that is also transversal in a traditional and eminently masculinized technology industry. Last year, the multinational agreed to pay more than 3.8 million dollars (about 3.64 million euros) to more than 5,500 employees of Asian origin who, according to the United States Department of Labor, were in a situation disadvantage.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism