Google agrees to pay $118 million to settle gender discrimination lawsuit

In 2017, numerous former Google workers filed a lawsuit against the business in a San Francisco court, claiming it of paying women less than males for same roles and assigning women lesser positions than men with comparable experience because they had previously received lower salary.

Google has agreed to pay $118 million to resolve a gender discrimination class-action lawsuit in the United States involving roughly 15,500 women in 236 job categories. Kelly Ellis, Holly Pease, Kelli Wisuri, and Heidi Lamar, the plaintiffs, have worked at Google in California in a "covered position" since September 14, 2013. The gender discrimination class action lawsuit was filed in 2017. 

In 2017, numerous former Google workers filed a lawsuit against the business in a San Francisco court, claiming it of paying women less than males for same roles and assigning women lesser positions than men with comparable experience because they had previously received lower salary.

As part of the settlement, the business agreed to have a third party examine its recruiting and pay procedures. "In addition to monetary compensation, the settlement allows for an independent third party expert to analyse Google's leveling-at-hire processes and an outside labour economist to assess Google's pay equity studies," plaintiffs' law firms stated in a statement.

Over the following three years, the post-settlement activities will be overseen by an external Settlement Monitor. Plaintiffs think these programmes "will assist guarantee that women are not paid less than their male counterparts who accomplish substantially identical work, and that Google's disputed levelling procedures are equitable," according to the lawsuit.

Ellis worked as a Software Engineer in Google's Mountain View division for over four years before leaving as a Senior Manager. Wisuri worked for Google for around 2.5 years at its Mountain View headquarters in different positions, while Pease worked for Google for nearly 10.5 years in both Mountain View and Sunnyvale, holding multiple technical leadership responsibilities.

The court will now set a hearing date for preliminary settlement approval, and if authorised, the third-party administrator will notify class members.