Over 60 women plan lawsuit against Google

According to a report in an international daily, civil rights attorney James Finberg is working on bringing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the female employees who believe they have earned less than men at Google despite equal qualifications and comparable positions. Others have alleged that the culture at Google is hostile to women and hampers their chances to advance their careers at the company. 

A leak from Google over an anti-diversity manifesto, written by a Google engineer, last week suggested that the company should halt initiatives aimed at increasing gender and racial diversity within the company and instead focus on “ideological diversity”.

“A class-action gender discrimination suit would build on a case brought by the US Department of Labour (DoL), which is arguing that Google systematically underpays women and recently convinced a judge to force the company to hand over a portion of the company’s salary records,” the report noted. 

According to Finberg, the testimony of the women who are considering to file a lawsuit indicated there are clear disparities and prejudices that hurt women at the Mountain View company. 

“They are concerned that women are channelled to levels and positions that pay less than men with similar education and experience,” Finberg was quoted as saying. During his interaction with several former and current women employees from Google, Finberg said they make around $40,000 less than male colleagues doing the same work. The report quoted a female Google employee as saying that she regularly dealt with sexist remarks such as comments about her looks.