Google has entered into an agreement with the US Department of Labor and demands that it repay thousands of workers nearly $ 2.6 million in wages due to allegations that the company’s pay and hire practices are illegally harming women and Asians.
Google must also review its payment and rental practices, conduct a gender pay equity survey and provide updates on the progress of closing the gender pay gap as part of the January 15 agreement signed by the DOL on Monday. .
The department said that as part of an audit of several Google sites in the states of Washington, California and New York, ‘preliminary indicators’ were identified that Google had not complied with a 1965 executive order that discriminated in payment and rental. of federal contractors.
The audit revealed early evidence that Google paid female engineers in Mountain View, California, as well as in Seattle and Kirkland, Washington, between 2014 and 2017, according to the DOL.
The agency also found evidence that Google discriminated against female and Asian engineering job seekers in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, California, as well as at the Kirkland plant.
“We believe that everyone should be paid based on the work they do, not who they are, and that we should invest heavily to make our hiring and compensation processes fair and unbiased,” said Jennifer Rodstrom, Google spokeswoman. said in a statement to Insider.
“For the past eight years, we have conducted annual internal wage analysis analysis to identify and address any inconsistencies. We are pleased that we have resolved this issue related to the allegations of the 2014-2017 audits, and we remain committed to diversity and fairness and around our people in a way that enables them to do their best work, ‘Rodstrom added.
A total of 2,565 women who worked at Google are eligible for reimbursement due to allegations of wage discrimination, while approximately 2,976 women and Asian job seekers are eligible for reimbursement due to alleged rent discrimination.
In exchange for agreeing to the DOL ‘early resolution’, Google will not have 39 of its facilities reviewed by the agency for five years, although the agency may still take legal action if Google violates the agreement.
Google has previously dealt with allegations of racial and gender bias, including an ongoing lawsuit over gender bias claims, and more recently an uprising against employees over the dismissal of AI researcher Timnit Gebru.