Google agrees to pay $118 million to settle gender discrimination lawsuit

Google logo at its headquarters in Zurich (Switzerland). EFE

Casual atmosphere, table football, sofas to take a nap, billiards and the good vibes inherent in a very young staff.

The collective imagination about working conditions in large technology companies has always provided incentives and advantages, but reality is not always so appealing.

Google has agreed to pay $118 million to settle a pay and career discrimination class action lawsuit against thousands of female employees.

The company also accepts an external review of its hiring and compensation practices.

Equality, like inclusivity, a common mantra in the Big Five (

, as they are called in the US: Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft), apparently in this case had more of a screen than reality.

Technological companies, in addition, have suffered a considerable bump on Wall Street this Monday, dragged down by generalized falls that in the case of the Nasdaq index has reached 4.68%.

The agreement, which must be approved by a judge, affects some 15,500 Google employees in California who have held more than 200 jobs since September 2013. The lawsuit was filed in 2017 in a San Francisco court by former employees for considering that the search engine paid women less than men in equivalent positions, and lowered them to lower ranks than male colleagues with similar experience and training.

Although Google "denies all the allegations in the lawsuit and claims to have faithfully complied with all applicable laws, rules and regulations at all times", the company and the plaintiffs opted for a negotiated solution to "avoid the costs of the procedure", according to the text of the agreement, to which Agence France Presse has had access.

The company is a subsidiary of the parent company, Alphabet.

The search engine had already agreed in 2021 to pay 3.8 million dollars to the United States Department of Labor after being accused of discriminating against women and Asians.

Most of the million-dollar compensation was used to compensate 2,565 women hired as engineers, as well as another 3,000 candidates, including women and Asians, who had not been hired by the company for similar positions.

As in the present case, Google denied having broken the law, although it later admitted that it had detected the existence of discrimination during a routine internal analysis and that it agreed to pay that amount, as a clean slate.

A purpose of amendment that was not substantiated, judging by the agreement known this Monday.

Google is not the only one of the big technology companies that is being fired for unexemplary practices, when the discourse about corporate social responsibility and the culture of inclusion and equality permeate more and more evidently in the American business fabric .

In October, Tesla, the electric car manufacturer founded by Elon Musk, was ordered to pay $137 million to a former employee for racial discrimination.

The events occurred between 2015 and 2016 at its Fremont (California) plant.

Upon learning of the court ruling, the company recognized that the work environment in the factory was not perfect, but that did not justify such a heavy sentence.

Tesla, like Amazon, has repeatedly come under fire during the pandemic, especially in its early phase, for providing scant virus safety guarantees to staff.

This was one of the reasons given by workers at Amazon - the country's second largest employer in the private sector - to organize unions.

The working conditions of the employees have also brought out the colors of the e-commerce giant.

A computer system capable of sentience?

The truth is that technology companies do not stop providing headlines.

In addition to disbursing the millionaire compensation, Google has suspended one of its engineers from employment and salary after he disclosed that an artificial intelligence (AI) program is capable of harboring feelings.

The technology company has removed the professional, a senior, shortly after he revealed his particular experience when interacting with a new AI system called LaMda, in its English acronym.

According to the retaliated worker, at one point in the conversation, the system claimed to have feelings that he could not express.

"I feel like I'm falling into an unknown future that involves great danger," says the engineer who

him about the system.

Google confirmed that its programs mimic conversation patterns but said they lack awareness.

According to

, which reported this Monday on the disagreement between the company and the worker, the professional gave a senator shortly before being removed evidence that the technology company and its systems incur religious discrimination.

Another millionaire lawsuit could come out of the pilgrim episode or, who knows, a Hollywood blockbuster script.

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