Google pays $50M to settle racial discrimination lawsuit in US
What's the story
Google has agreed to a $50 million settlement in a lawsuit, that accused the tech giant of systemic racial discrimination against its Black employees.
The preliminary settlement was submitted at the Oakland federal court in California.
It covers over 4,000 employees of the company based in California and New York, but is still pending approval from a judge.
Case details
Allegations of discrimination
The lawsuit, filed in March 2022, accused Google of cultivating a "racially biased corporate culture."
It alleged that the management steers Black employees to lower-tier jobs, pays them less than their peers, downgrades their performance ratings, and hinders their career growth.
In 2021, merely 4.4% of Google's workforce were Black employees and only 3% were in leadership roles.
Individual case
Plaintiff's experience sheds light on alleged bias
April Curley, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and former Google employee, was hired to improve outreach to historically Black colleges.
She alleged that Google denied her promotions, labeled her as an "angry" Black woman, and terminated her employment after six years when she was preparing a report on the company's purported racial bias.
Racial insensitivity
Allegations of discriminatory remarks
Along with the allegations of systemic bias, the lawsuit also pointed to cases where managers reportedly made derogatory comments about Black employees.
They allegedly said that these employees lacked "Googleyness," which the plaintiffs called racial dog whistles.
The term is commonly used to refer to coded language that expresses racially prejudiced attitudes or beliefs.
Company's stance
Google's response to the allegations
Google, an Alphabet subsidiary based in Mountain View, California, has denied any wrongdoing but agreed to settle the lawsuit.
The company said that it has fully complied with all relevant laws and had no immediate further comment on the matter.
Notably, the settlement does not imply an admission of guilt or liability by Google.