Google has reached a $50 million settlement with Black employees who alleged systemic racial disparities in hiring, pay, and advancement. The lawsuit, filed in 2022 by former Google employee April Curley and later granted class action status, claimed the company engaged in a "pattern and practice" of unfair treatment toward Black workers.
According to the suit, Google steered Black employees into lower-level and lower-paid jobs and subjected them to a hostile work environment if they spoke out. The lawsuit also alleged that hiring managers viewed Black job candidates "through harmful racial stereotypes" and deemed some candidates "not 'Googly' enough," a phrase the suit characterised as "a plain dog whistle for race discrimination".
The complaint further claimed that interviewers "hazed" and undermined Black candidates, and that the company hired Black candidates into lower-paying and lower-level roles with less advancement potential based on their race and racial stereotypes.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement: "This case is about accountability, plain and simple. For far too long, Black employees in the tech industry have faced barriers that limit opportunity. This settlement is a significant step toward holding one of the world's most powerful companies accountable and making clear that discriminatory practices cannot and will not be tolerated".
The settlement does not constitute an admission of liability by Google. The agreement includes commitments to pay equity analyses, pay transparency measures, and limits on mandatory arbitration for employment-related disputes through at least August 2026.
The case reflects years of complaints from Black employees at the company. Prominent artificial intelligence scholar Timnit Gebru has previously said she was pushed out in 2020 after a dispute over a research paper examining the societal dangers of an emerging branch of artificial intelligence.
