3 Female Ex-Google Employees File Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Three female ex-Google employees filed a class-action lawsuit this week in San Francisco Superior Court accusing the Silicon Valley-based tech giant of across-the-board discrimination against female employees in its California offices when it comes to pay levels and promotions when compared to their male counterparts in lateral positions.

The plaintiffs, who are seeking restitution for alleged lost wages, claim Google has "long known of these issues but has failed to correct them, causing substantial damage to its female workforce," attorneys James Finberg of Altshuler of Berzon LLP and Kelly Dermody of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit Thursday.

They also want an end to the company's alleged gender disparities.

"I have come forward to correct a pervasive problem of gender bias at Google," said plaintiff Kelly Ellis. "It is time to stop ignoring these issues in tech."

Ellis, who worked as a software engineer from 2010 until 2014 at Google's Mountain View headquarters, is joined by co-plaintiffs Holly Pease, who worked in management for Google from 2005 until 2016 at its Mountain View and Sunnyvale offices, and Kelli Wisuri, a former communications specialist for Google in Mountain View from 2012 to 2015.

"Women should have the same opportunities as men, and receive equal pay for substantially similar work," Wisuri said.

The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial, alleging Google has violated "numerous California laws, including the Equal Pay Act, other provisions of the California Labor Code, and the Unlawful and Unfair Practices Act," their attorneys say.

Google employs over 21,000 employees at its Mountain View office and has employees at six other office locations throughout California, including in San Francisco.

According to the complaint:

"Throughout the Class Period and throughout California, Google has discriminated and continues to discriminate against its female employees by paying female employees less than male employees with similar skills, experience, and duties; by assigning and keeping women in job ladders and levels with lower compensation ceilings and advancement opportunities than those to which men with similar skills, experience, and duties are assigned and kept; and by promoting fewer women and promoting women more slowly than it has promoted similarly-qualified men. The net result of this systemic discrimination is that Google pays women less than men for comparable work."

This isn't the first time in recent weeks women have complained about discrimination at Google. Just last month, a leaked memo by then-Google software engineer James Damore criticizing the company's "political correctness" and diversity initiatives, said that biological differences between men and women are significant and may explain some of the gender gaps in the company.

Amid the early-August international backlash against Damore and Google's alleged toleration of his views, the software engineer was terminated, Google CEO Sundar Pichai saying that parts of the memo "violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace."

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Regarding the lawsuit filed Thursday, a Google spokeswoman said the company is reviewing the former employees' claims in detail but "we disagree with the central allegations."

"We work really hard to create a great workplace for everyone, and to give everyone the chance to thrive here. In relation to this particular lawsuit, we’ll review it in detail, but we disagree with the central allegations," said Google Spokeswoman Gina Scigliano. "Job levels and promotions are determined through 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. And we have extensive systems in place to ensure that we pay fairly. But on all these topics, if we ever see individual discrepancies or problems, we work to fix them, because Google has always sought to be a great employer, for every one of our employees."

Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press