Google agrees to pay $28m in racial bias lawsuit

Google has agreed to pay $28m (£21.5m) to settle a lawsuit that claimed white and Asian employees were given better pay and career opportunities than workers from other ethnic backgrounds, a law firm representing claimants says.

The technology giant confirmed it had “reached a resolution” but rejected the allegations made against it.

The case filed in 2021 by former Google employee, Ana Cantu, said workers from Hispanic, Latino, Native American and other backgrounds started on lower salaries and job levels than their white and Asian counterparts.

The settlement has been given preliminary approval by Judge Charles Adams of the Santa Clara County Superior Court in California.

The case brought by Ms Cantu against Google relied on a leaked internal document, which allegedly showed that employees from some ethnic backgrounds reported lower compensation for similar work.

The practice of basing starting pay and job level on prior salaries reinforced historical race and ethnicity-based disparities, according to Ms Cantu’s lawyers.

The class action lawsuit was filed for at least 6,632 people who were employed by Google between 15 February 2018 and 31 December 2024, according to Reuters news agency.

Cathy Coble, one of the lawyers representing them, praised the “bravery of both the diverse and ally Googlers who self-reported their pay and leaked that data to the media”.

“Suspected pay inequity is too easily concealed without this kind of collective action from employees,” Ms Coble added.

The technology giant denied that it had discriminated against any of its employees.

“We reached a resolution, but continue to disagree with the allegations that we treated anyone differently, and remain committed to paying, hiring, and levelling all employees fairly,” a Google spokesperson told the BBC.

Earlier this year, Google joined a growing list of US firms that are abandoning commitments to principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their recruitment policies.

Meta, Amazon, Pepsi, McDonald’s, Walmart and others have also rolled back their DEI programmes.

It comes as US President Donald Trump and his allies have regularly attacked DEI policies.

Since his return to the White House, Trump has ordered government agencies and their contractors to eliminate such initiatives.