After a long legal process that started in 2015, Google is paying out $11 million to settle a lawsuit accusing them of discriminating against older job seekers. The American giant also agreed to form an internal committee focused on age diversity, train managers on age bias and investigate age bias complaints.
Google was accused of engaging in a “systematic pattern or practice of discrimination” against job applicants aged 40 and over. Cheryl Fillekes, one of the lead plaintiffs in the case, said she interviewed for a job with Google on four separate occasions but was never offered a position, despite her qualification, because of her age.
The company has denied intentionally discriminating against the plaintiffs because of their age. The search giant says it has a strong policy against discrimination on any unlawful bias, including age and is working hard to create an inclusive workplace.
The final settlement agreement is still subject to court approval. The 227 people who joined the class action are waiting on the US District Court for the Northern District of California to see if they’ll receive the settlement which comes up to $35,000 for each plaintiff.
Google isn’t the first tech firm to face age discrimination complaints. Intel, Oracle, and Facebook have all been accused of similar behavior.
On that note, Daniel Low, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, stated:
“We believe that age discrimination is pervasive in the tech industry, and we hope that other companies will scrutinize their employment practices and strive to eliminate age-based bias in hiring. “In addition to a monetary award … the settlement agreement also includes programmatic relief which will help prevent potential age discrimination at Google in the future.”
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