Google will pay $118M to settle gender discrimination lawsuit

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Google has agreed to pay $118 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accuses the group of discriminating against women through salary and their positions in California.

The settlement involves nearly 15,500 women who have worked for the company in California since September 2013, says a statement published by law firms Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and Altshuler Berzon.

The company also agreed to have a third party review its hiring and compensation practices.

In a statement, Google states that “while we firmly believe in the fairness of our policies and practices, after nearly five years of litigation, the parties have agreed that the resolution of the case, without any admission (of liability) or conclusion, was up to best interest for all. And we are delighted to reach this agreement”.

In 2017, several former Google employees sued the company in a San Francisco court. They accused the group of paying women less than men in equivalent positions, as well as assigning women to lower positions despite having equivalent experience and qualifications to men, on the pretext that they previously received lower wages.

According to a copy of the settlement released by the law firms, “Google denies all allegations in the lawsuit and affirms that it has fully complied with all applicable laws, rules and regulations at all times.”

The deal still needs to be approved by a judge.

Google agreed in 2021 to pay $3.8 million to the US Department of Labor following allegations of discrimination against women and employees of Asian descent.

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