Google will pay $28 million to settle a racial discriminaton class action lawsuit, which claimed the company only "paid lip service" to so-called DEI principles, even as it allegedly favored white and Asian employees over workers who were Latino, Native American or other non-Asian racial and ethnic minorities.
On March 12, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Charles Adams granted preliminary approval to a deal to end the lawsuit.
The settlement reportedly will result in payments totaling more than $20 million, collectively, to more than 6,600 current and former Google employees who worked for the company from 2018 to 2024 and who the lawsuit claims were denied promotion opportunities on the basis of their race and were paid less than their white and Asian counterparts.
Lawyers who led the class action will receive at least $7 million in legal fees from the deal.
The settlement was confirmed on March 17 by attorneys from the firm of Gunn Coble LLP, of Los Angeles, who were among those representing named plaintiff Ana Cantu against Google.
Attorneys from the firm of Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh, of Los Angeles, also initially represented the plaintiffs in the case.
According to a release from the Gunn Coble firm, attorney Jennifer Kramer, now of the firm of Kramer Brown Hui LLP, will serve as co-class counsel under the settlement.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by Cantu and her lawyers.
According to case documents, Cantu, who identifies as "ethnically Mexican and racially Indigenous," had worked for Google since 2014, working under the supervision of the company's head of internal communications.
According to the complaint, Cantu believed she was on a positive career track within the company, as she allegedly received "consistently positive performance reviews and accolades for her work."
However, according to the complaint, she and other non-white and non-Asian workers were consistently passed over for promotion and career advancement opportunities in favor of white and Asian employees, leading to less pay and fewer opportunities for advancement.
The complaint particularly accused Cantu's Asian supervisor of allegedly taking credit for Cantu's work and achievements.
According to the complaint, Cantu lodged numerous complaints to Google's Human Resources department, but those complaints allegedly resulted in no action by the company to address them.
"Google did nothing to address Plaintiff's multiple complaints, allowing them to fest while giving lip service to diversity, equity and inclusion for (Native American and Latino) Googlers," Cantu wrote in her complaint. "Google Human Resources eventually conceded that it did nothing to investigate Plaintiff's complaints, admitting to Plaintiff that her complaints went into a 'Black Hole.'"
Cantu resigned her position at Google in 2021, as she allegedly decided she "could no longer tolerate ... discriminatory, harassing and retaliatory practices, the ongoing failure to promote her fairly for the work she was doing, and the adverse treatment she experienced (from her supervisor and others) on account of their anti-Mexican and anti-Indigenous biases."
She filed suit soon after.
The lawsuit reportedly was boosted in 2022 when Google employees allegedly leaked to the media an internal pay spreadsheet which allegedly showed non-white and non-Asian Google employees received relatively lower compensation.
That spreadsheet was allegedly confirmed through a comparison analysis conducted by a labor economist.
The lawsuit survived attempts by Google to dismiss, and eventually led to settlement talks and the announced deal.
“I commend Ms. Cantu who brought this suit against Google, one of the most powerful companies in the world. She risked her career to raise race/ethnicity pay disparity at Google,” said attorney Cathy Coble, of Gunn Coble, in a statement included in the release announcing the settlement. “I also want to acknowledge the bravery of both the diverse and ally Googlers who self-reported their pay and leaked that data to the media, enabling us to push for discovery of the data necessary to support this class action. Suspected pay inequity is too easily concealed without this kind of collective action from employees.”
In addition to the payouts, Cantu's lawyers noted the settlement included provisions requiring Google "to work with a Labor Economist and Industrial/Occupational Psychologist to review Google’s annual pay equity audits and process for determining level at hire and review their recommendations to address the allegations raised in the lawsuit."
According to published reports, Google confirmed the settlement, but continued to deny the accusations presented in the lawsuit.