Google has agreed to pay $118 million to settle a class action lawsuit that alleges the company underpaid female employees. The agreement will release Google from claims that it “paid women in Covered Positions less than it paid men for substantially similar work, that Google assigned women to lower levels than it assigned men, and that Google failed to pay all wages due to employees upon their separation of employment,” the settlement says.
The settlement covers about 15,500 women who have worked for Google in California since 2013, the plaintiffs’ law firm said in an announcement on Saturday. Four named plaintiffs will get separate payouts: $75,000 for lead plaintiff Kelly Ellis and $50,000 each for the other three, in addition to their regular share from the net settlement fund. The settlement class covers a wide range of workers with 236 job titles.
The net settlement fund will have about $86 million after attorneys’ fees and other deductions, providing an average of about $5,500 for each class member. The lawsuit alleged that “Google paid women, on average, approximately $16,794 less per year than similarly situated men, in base pay, bonus, and stock.”
Google violated the California Equal Pay Act and other state laws, plaintiffs alleged in the gender-discrimination lawsuit. The settlement is pending a judge’s approval in San Francisco County Superior Court.
“In addition to monetary relief, the settlement provides that an independent third-party expert will analyze Google’s leveling-at-hire practices and that an independent labor economist will review Google’s pay equity studies,” the plaintiffs’ law firm said. “The post-settlement work will be supervised by an external settlement monitor over the next three years. The lawsuit challenged Google’s pay and leveling processes, and plaintiffs believe these programs will help ensure that women are not paid less than their male counterparts who perform substantially similar work, and that Google’s challenged leveling practices are equitable.”