Google agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the search engine company of systemic racial bias against black employees.
A proposed settlement impacting over 4,000 Google employees in California and New York was submitted on Thursday evening in the federal court in Oakland, California, and awaits approval from a judge.
The plaintiffs in this potential class action claim that Google fosters a “racially biased corporate culture,” where management directs black employees to lower-tier roles, offers them lesser pay, provides lower performance evaluations, and restricts their advancement opportunities.
According to the complaint, black employees comprised only 4.4% of Google’s workforce and 3% of its leadership in 2021.
April Curley, one of the plaintiffs hired to enhance outreach to historically black colleges, alleges that Google passed her over for promotions, labeled her with the stereotype of an “angry” black woman, and terminated her employment after six years as she was preparing a report on the company’s supposed racial discrimination.
Managers also allegedly denigrated black employees by declaring they were not “Googley” enough or lacked “Googleyness,” which the plaintiffs called racial dog whistles.
Google, a unit of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet, denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle, and said it fully complied with all applicable laws. It had no immediate additional comment on Friday.
The lawsuit began in March 2022 after a regulator now known as the California Civil Rights Department started investigating Google’s treatment of black female employees.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs may seek up to $12.5 million of the settlement fund in fees.
On Monday, the lawyers dismissed related claims brought on behalf of job applicants, citing evidence they had gathered and Google’s “reasoned arguments.”
The case is Curley et al v Google LLC, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-01735.
