SAN FRANCISCO – United States labour regulators late yesterday said Google has agreed to pay US$3.8 million (RM15.37 million) to resolve allegations that it discriminated against women engineers and Asian jobseekers.
The Labour Department said most of the settlement money will go to 2,565 female employees in engineering positions as back pay and interest, and to nearly 3,000 women or candidates of Asian descent who were not chosen for engineering jobs.
Google said the discrepancies were turned up during a routine internal analysis, and it agreed to the settlement to correct the situation, denying it violated any laws.
“We believe everyone should be paid based upon the work they do, not who they are, and invest heavily to make our hiring and compensation processes fair and unbiased,” said a company spokesman in response to an AFP inquiry.
She added that Google annually analysed its payroll data to look for discrepancies, and is “pleased” to resolve these allegations.
An evaluation found gender pay disparities for software engineers at Google facilities in Silicon Valley and Washington state, according to the Labour Department.
“Pay discrimination remains a systemic problem,” said Jenny Yang, head of the office of federal contract compliance programmes, in a release.
The agency said it uncovered “hiring rate differences” that put female and Asian applicants at a disadvantage for software engineering positions.
As part of the settlement, Google agreed to review its policies, procedures and practices related to hiring and compensation, said the Labour Department.
Google parent Alphabet late last year announced moves to address sexual misconduct in its divisions, putting in place changes worked out to settle a suit filed by shareholders.
Under the terms of the settlement, the internet giant will spend US$310 million on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and let employees use courts instead of private arbitration to resolve disputes over treatment.
The shareholder suit argued that Alphabet’s board and senior executives improperly awarded multimillion-dollar severance packages to several male executives accused of sexually harassing female employees, even after internal investigations found the accusations to be credible.
Demonstrators streamed across the Mountain View campus during a walkout in late 2018 over the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by executives.
The concerns at the tech giant were part of a chorus denouncing the existence of a sexist culture in male-dominated Silicon Valley. – AFP, February 2, 2021
