The $118 million settlement covers about 15,500 female
employees who have worked for the company in California since September 2013, the
law firms Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP and Altshuler Berzon LLP
said in a statement released Friday night.
The company also agreed for a third party to analyse its
hiring and compensation practices as part of the settlement.
In a statement to AFP, Google said that "while we
strongly believe in the equity of our policies and practices, after nearly five
years of litigation, both sides agreed that resolution of the matter, without
any admission or findings, was in the best interest of everyone, and we're very
pleased to reach this agreement."
In 2017, several former Google employees sued the company in
a San Francisco court, accusing it of paying women less than men for equivalent
positions and assigning women lower positions than men with similar experiences
because they had previously earned smaller salaries.
According to a copy of the agreement released by the law
firms, "Google denies all of the allegations in the lawsuit and maintains
that it has fully complied with all applicable laws, rules and regulations at
all times."
A judge must still approve the agreement, the two law firms
for the plaintiffs said.
Google previously agreed in 2021 to pay $3.8 million to the US Department of Labor over accusations it had discriminated against women and Asians.