Ex-Googlers can do more than just found a Bodega startup that the internet loves to hate. Some ex-Googlers might force the search giant to cough up back pay and a hefty slice of its profits to thousands of female employees at the company who may have been underpaid or underpromoted. Three women who left Google/Alphabet because they claim they were “segregrated” into lower-paying career tracks have filed a lawsuit against Google that intends to become a class action, according to the Associated Press. The suit sets to prove that Google pays and promotes women less than their male counterparts, according to the plaintiffs, former senior manager Holly Pease, sales executive Kelli Wasuri, and software engineer Kelly Ellis, who has tweeted on the matter.
My hopes for the Google suit: to force not only Google, but other companies to change their practices and compensate EVERYONE fairly.
— Kelly Ellis (@justkelly_ok) September 14, 2017
The suit comes against the backdrop of U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit against Google for “systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce,” and of course the comically sexist saga of fired brogrammer James Damore, who continues to make himself look less intelligent by the day. (Honestly, the replies to this tweet are true comedy magnificence).
Google's autocomplete is automatically generated from popular queries of its users. Maybe Google should listen to them. pic.twitter.com/MSdhGTckD3
— James Damore (@JamesADamore) September 13, 2017
Accusing Google of “assigning and keeping female employees in lower compensation levels than male employees with similar skills, experience, and duties,” the suit could force Google/Alphabet to pay out big bucks to those more than 21,000 current and former female employees. Wired notes that should the suit turn class action (which it has not yet), the pool of potential plaintiffs would expand to “all women who have worked at Google since 2013.”
The Guardian acquired a copy of the lawsuit, which accuses Google of “assigning and keeping female employees in lower compensation levels than male employees with similar skills, experience, and duties.” James Finberg, the attorney who filed the suit, claims he’s been contacted by more than 90 women who currently or formerly worked at Google.
ABC 7 has the full text of Google’s statement responding to the matter. “We work really hard to create a great workplace for everyone, and to give everyone the chance to thrive here,” the statement insists. “In relation to this particular lawsuit, we'll review it in detail, but we disagree with the central allegations. Job levels and promotions are determined by rigorous hiring and promotion committees and must pass multiple levels of review, including checks to make sure there is no gender bias in these decisions.”
Earlier this month, the New York Times acquired a spreadsheet of Google salaries and bonuses that shows a pretty clear pattern of women being paid less at every salary level in the company.
But class actions like this have, so far, not been easy to establish, let alone win. A lawsuit brought by recently deceased Walmart employee Betty Dukes that alleged gender bias in wages and promotions across the company and sought to establish a class of 1.6 million female employees was shot down by the Supreme Court in 2011, with the justices unanimously deciding that the class was too large and diverse in its circumstances to be certified.
Attorney Anita Hill recently penned an op-ed, however, encouraging women in Silicon Valley to take a cue from women on Wall Street in the 1990s, specifically the "Boom Boom Room" case of 1996 in which 2,000 women ended up joining a class action and winning a $150 million settlement from Smith Barney over the sexist culture there. "It’s time women in tech consider taking advantage of the law to disrupt the industry once and for all," Hill wrote.
Related: 60% Of Women In Tech Are Sexually Harassed (And More Numbers To Make You Throw Up)