JAKARTA – The technology giant Google has been sued by four of its former employees. They represent as many as 10,800 female employees who work at Google.
The lawsuit stems from the issue of salary differences between male employees and female employees. In this case, Google is accused of hiring male employees with higher wages than female employees. However, their positions are equal.
The difference in salary is claimed to reach a difference of 17 thousand US dollars (equivalent to Rp. 243 million) per year. Google has been accused of violating the Equal Pay Act.
In fact, the lawsuit has been filed in court since 2017. Nevertheless, the victory of the lawsuit is a matter of pride for the four former Google employees because they represent female colleagues at the company.
"This is an important day for women (employees) at Google as well as in the technology sector, and we are very proud of our clients who dare to take the lead," said Kelly Dermody, the plaintiff's attorney, as quoted by Bloomberg.
“This order demonstrates the importance of companies to prioritize fair pay to female workers over spending money fighting them in court,” Dermody added.
Google doesn't just get a lawsuit from its former employees. The US technology company also received a lawsuit from the US Department of Labor for delaying compensation.
Because of this, the US government fined Google a total of 2.5 million US dollars for discriminating against salaries and employee recruitment. Google did not remain silent on this issue. They analyze salary equity strictly in recent years.
"If we find discrepancies in proposed payments, including between men and women, we make an upward adjustment to remove them before the new compensation takes effect," Google told The Verge.
Upon winning the class-action status, the plaintiff's lawyer hopes that the trial can be held soon next year.
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