the gender pay gap

Department of Labor Accuses Google of ‘Extreme’ Gender Pay Gap

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s investigation into Google’s pay practices is turning up some damning details. According to The Guardian, the department is accusing the tech giant of drastically underpaying its female employees, even beyond the typical gender pay gap in the tech sector.

This data has come to light as part of the department’s lawsuit against Google, which has been refusing to turn over salary data to prove its compliance with equal-pay labor laws. In light of Google’s refusal, the department has requested that the government cancel its contracts with the company and block them from future government work.

DOL regional director Janette Wipper testified, “We found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce.” Another DOL employee told The Guardian Friday, “The investigation is not complete, but at this point the department has received compelling evidence of very significant discrimination against women in the most common positions at Google headquarters … The government’s analysis at this point indicates that discrimination against women in Google is quite extreme, even in this industry.”

The Guardian reports:

Wipper said the department found pay disparities in a 2015 snapshot of salaries and said officials needed earlier compensation data to evaluate the root of the problem and needed to be able to confidentially interview employees.

“We want to understand what’s causing the disparity,” she said.

A Google spokesperson told The Atlantic, “We vehemently disagree with Ms Wipper’s claim. Every year, we do a comprehensive and robust analysis of pay across genders and we have found no gender pay gap. Other than making an unfounded statement which we heard for the first time in court, the DOL hasn’t provided any data, or shared its methodology.”

Google tweeted on Equal Pay Day that the company has “closed the gender pay gay globally, and also provide[s] equal pay across races in the U.S., according to our annual compensation analysis. At our re:Work site, we’re sharing some of the lessons we’ve learned to help other businesses close the pay gap.”

Dept. of Labor Accuses Google of ‘Extreme’ Gender Pay Gap