The internet giant Google has been sued for gender discrimination, with three women who used to work for the company alleging a system of Google’s giving males better positions which lead to better pay. The women are seeking certification as a legal “class” entitled to treat this litigation as a class action suit.
The suit follows a lot of controversy which suggested that Google had in a place a pay system which leads to workplace discrimination against women. For instance, at the beginning of this year, the United States Department of Labor sought to prevent Google from accepting federal contracts after the company would not cooperate with a request for documents.
The government wanted to review the results of an audit which might have revealed systemic problems in the company’s pay structure. The federal government has also made preliminary investigative findings that Google did in fact have a system which would be more likely to advance male employees over female employees.
The three women who filed the most recent civil suit said they left the company after they were placed on professional paths which would have ended in lower pay than their equally qualified male counterparts.
Although Google denies the allegations, it has promised to review the lawsuit. It remains to be seen how the suit will get resolved. If anything, though, this case illustrates that discrimination can sometimes manifest itself in broadly unfair rules or systems which tend to hurt protected minority groups. When this happens, San Diego employees may have legal options to pursue compensation and other relief in order to get the justice they deserve.
Source: NBC 7, “Google hit with class action lawsuit over ‘pervasive problem’ of gender bias, pay,” Ryan Nakashima, Sept. 14, 2017