Google has reached an agreement with the United States Department of Labor, demanding that it pay nearly $ 2.6 million in back wages to thousands of workers for allegations that the company’s pay and hiring illegally harm women and Asian.
Google should also review its remuneration and hiring practices, conduct a gender pay equality study and provide updates on its progress to eliminate the gender pay gap as part of the agreement, which was signed on January 15 and made public by DOL on Monday.
The department said that, as part of an audit of several Google locations in Washington, California and New York, it identified “preliminary indicators” that Google did not comply with a 1965 executive order prohibiting discrimination in pay and hiring federal contractors.
That audit revealed initial evidence suggesting that, between 2014 and 2017, Google paid female engineers in Mountain View, California, as well as in Seattle and Kirkland, Washington, locations “less than comparable male employees,” according to DOL.
The agency also found evidence to suggest that Google had discriminated against Asian and female candidates for engineering jobs at its San Francisco and Sunnyvale, Calif. Locations, as well as at Kirkland’s facilities.
“We believe that everyone should be paid based on the work they do, not who they are, and invest heavily to make our hiring and compensation processes fair and impartial,” Google spokeswoman Jennifer Rodstrom told Insider in an interview. communicated.
“For the past eight years, we have conducted annual internal salary equity reviews to identify and resolve any discrepancies. We are pleased to have resolved this issue related to the 2014-2017 audit allegations and remain committed to diversity and equity and with the support of our staff in a way that allows them to do the best job, “added Rodstrom.
In total, about 2,565 women who worked at Google are eligible for late payment on allegations of wage discrimination, while about 2,976 Asian women and candidates for jobs at Google are eligible for late payment as a result of alleged employment discrimination.
In exchange for agreeing to DOL’s “early resolution”, Google will not have 39 of its facilities audited by the agency for five years, although the agency may still file a lawsuit if Google violates the agreement.
Google has previously faced allegations of racial and gender bias, including an ongoing collective action on allegations of gender bias and, more recently, an employee rebellion over the resignation of AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru’s company.