In settlement proceedings, Google LLC agreed to pay more than $3.8 million to more than 5,000 employees and job applicants over allegations of “systemic compensation and hiring discrimination” against women and Asian applicants for software engineering positions. Google has long denied accusations of any pay gap or disparity for women and minority groups working for their locations across the country.

The Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) found indicators that Google underpaid 2,783 female software engineers in a routine compliance evaluation. The review also revealed that Google had implemented hiring rate differences and “disadvantaged women and Asian candidates… for software engineering roles.” Starting women and Asian applicants at a lower pay rate made it more difficult to find evidence of a pay disparity, as long as the applicants stayed with the company for an extended period of time.

Google agreed to pay $1.3 million in back pay with interest to 2,565 female employees and another $1.2 million in back pay and interest to 1,757 female and 1,219 Asian applicants who were not hired for software entering positions. Also, Google must create a cash reserve of at least $1.25 million for the next five years for their U.S. employees as pay-equity adjustments.

The OFCCP, under Director Jenny R. Yang, is responsible for protecting workers, promoting diversity, and enforcing the law with those who do business with the federal government. If a company conducts more than $10,000 in business with the federal government in a single calendar year, they are subject to the jurisdiction of the OFCCP’s compliance audits for equal employment opportunity regulations. The office ensures compliance with legal requirements of affirmative action, anti-discriminatory policies based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

In March 2019, the New York Times reported that when Google investigated whether women and minority groups were being underpaid, their results surprisingly found “that men were paid less money than women for doing similar work.” However, critics of the study stated that Google’s focus on men’s wages were misleading. Many commented that the company was not focusing on “equity” because they were not “examining the structural hurdles that women face as engineers” and did not address the wage women and members of minority communities would be making if they had started at the “appropriate pay grade in the first place.”

Google LLC and parent company Alphabet Inc. are not unique in the tech industry. A study by Hired in March 2019 found that “more than half of women in the U.S. tech sector are being paid less than their male counterparts,” and “the pay gap widens when considering minorities.”

OFCCP’s Regional Director, Jane Suhr, commented that “the technology industry continues to be one of the region’s largest and fastest-growing employers” and complimented Google for being willing “to engage in settlement discussions and reach an early resolution.” However, Jenny R. Yang, the OFCCP Director, criticized the industry by citing “pay discrimination remains a systemic problem” and the value of “regular pay equity audits to ensure … compensation systems promote equal opportunit[ies].”

Earlier this year, approximately 800 Google employees joined together to form Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), the name stemming from Google’s parent company Alphabet, Inc. Unionizing is rare in the tech industry, but AWU is a unique union in that it is not pushing to negotiate a contract with the employer, nor do they have a list of demands. Instead, they are pushing for substantial change through the solidarity of their numbers. They claim that “Alphabet can make money without doing evil… Alphabet needs a conscience. Union members care for each other and provide support through open and continuous dialogue.”

While the budding union’s main mission is geared toward protecting society, claiming they are “responsible for the technology that [they] bring into the world,” they do promote a “welcoming environment” for all employees “free from harassment, bigotry, discrimination, and retaliation.” The union pledges to “protect Alphabet workers” including “full-time employers, temporary employees, vendors, and contractors.” As the tech industry continues to grow in coming years, especially as telework becomes a more permanent aspect of the U.S. economy due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, criticism over pay disparities and discrimination will become even more critical.