Google Declared Guilty In Gender Discrimination Case And Fined IDR 17.4 Billion

To the female Google Cloud executive, Ulku Rowe (photo: twitter @UlkuRowe)

A court judge found Google guilty in a gender discrimination case and provided compensation of USD 1.1 million (IDR 17.4 billion) to female Google Cloud executive Ulku Rowe, who filed a complaint.

In Rowe's lawsuit, he claimed that the company paid higher salaries to less experienced male colleagues and then refused to give her a promotion in retaliation for her complaints, both internally and in court.

Bloomberg Law reports that the jury decided that Google should pay Rowe in compensation and for the suffering she suffered. However, the jury reportedly also found that even though Google treated Rowe "different from other employees because of her gender," Rowe did not manage to prove that Google violated New York's law by paying lower than her two colleagues.

Before the trial began, Rowe said that her time at Google "was overshadowed by what I believe is compensation and unfair treatment because of my gender."

He claims that after the company ignored him in promoting to be vice president given to a man who did not apply and did not meet the requirements, and after he filed a lawsuit, the company again refused to give him a similar promotion.

In an email sent to The Verge, Cara Green's attorney from Outten & Golden said that "integer decisions not only validate Mrs. Rowe's accusations of ill treatment by Google," but also sent a message that "discrimination and retaliation will not be tolerated at work."

Google spokesman Courtenay Mencini said in an emailed statement to The Verge that the company was "happy" with the jury's finding that Rowe had been "paid and leveled fairly," and that "he was subsequently not rejected any promotion - without a violation of New York's legal fees equality."

"We do not agree with the jury's finding that Lady Rowe has been discriminated against because of her gender or that she has received retaliation for complaints about her salary, level, and gender. We prohibit retaliation at work and publicly share our very clear policies. We take employee complaints seriously, and we investigate Lady Rowe's complaints thoroughly when she files and find that there is no discrimination or retaliation," said the Minister.

Green gave the award for "an attempt by thousands of Google employees to protest in 2018 and demand reform." More than 20,000 Google employees and contractors staged a strike that year after a New York Times investigation revealed that the company had awarded $ 90 million (IDR 1.4 trillion) to an Android co-founder as he left the company on allegations of sexual harassment.