Written by: Katie Scott, Business Reporter
Google has settled a five-year lawsuit with female employees who took the tech giant to court over inequalities in pay.
It has agreed to give around 15,500 women it employed in California a $118m payout. Sky News reports that the money will be shared out using "an objective formula".
The case was brought by four women, who claimed that they were being paid less than their male counterparts. Amongst them was Holly Pearse who told reporters after the verdict: “As a woman who’s spent her entire career in the tech industry, I’m optimistic that the actions Google has agreed to take as part of this settlement will ensure more equity for women.”
As well as agreeing the payout, Google is also to bring in an independent expert “specialising in industrial organisation to analyse its hiring practices and pay equity,” reports Sky News.
A Google spokesperson stated: "While we strongly believe in the equity of our policies and practices, after nearly five years of litigation, both sides agreed that resolution of the matter, without any admission or findings, was in the best interest of everyone, and we're very pleased to reach this agreement. We are absolutely committed to paying, hiring and levelling all employees fairly and equally and for the past nine years we have run a rigorous pay equity analysis to make sure salaries, bonuses and equity awards are fair."
