Google, Department of Labor settlement resolves alleged pay, discrimination

Apparently you can avoid this entirely just by letting low level managers negotiate compensation instead of having a general rule across the board like Google. Also apparently it helps to say that paying workers as little as possible (including paying women as little as possible) is a key aspect of your business.<p>&gt; Oracle is budget conscience and seeks to make money, but there is no evidence that this is driven by discriminatory intent or that Oracle intentionally discriminates in order to save money.<p>&gt; Lower-level managers are the primary decision makers in compensation outcomes and the potential mechanisms of discrimination that are available to Oracle&#x27;s higher-level executives and HR personnel (budgeting, instructions, approvals) are not likely means for the sort of discrimination alleged.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hrdive.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;judge-shuts-down-labor-department-400-oracle-pay-bias-suit&#x2F;585993&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hrdive.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;judge-shuts-down-labor-departmen...</a>

They underpaid by only $500? $1,353,052&#x2F;2,565 = $527 per person. When Google engineers are being paid $200-500k a year, That&#x27;s... lower than expected.<p>This is interesting, because Google was underpaying male employees just 2 years ago: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2019&#x2F;03&#x2F;04&#x2F;technology&#x2F;google-gender-pay-gap.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2019&#x2F;03&#x2F;04&#x2F;technology&#x2F;google-gender-...</a>

I find it ironic that many &quot;diversity and inclusion&quot; pundits claim that Asians are overrepresented in companies like Google and actively advocate for hiring policies that disfavor Asians but in fact the DoL has found here that they were discriminated _against_.

The settlement provides for one-time payments averaging &lt;$500 for each wronged individual. Given the amounts of money the company throws into salaries already, it&#x27;s hard to imagine this coming anywhere close to just remuneration for the people affected, much less an effective deterrent for Google&#x27;s future behavior.<p>(For the sake of completeness: Google is also required to set aside a cash fund for salary fairness adjustments over the next 5 years, though it&#x27;s tiny and there is no guarantee any of it will actually be paid out.)

I wonder how many people will see this headline and think the difference was much more drastic than a three-figure sum over 2+ years of employment. A quick look at levels makes it clear this is a completely insignificant amount. FAANG sign-on bonuses alone are five figures, and that&#x27;s the smallest part of most compensation packages.

Has this just run its course, or has the change of administration played a role?<p>$3.8M for 5k+ employees at Google rates seems low.

&gt; namely $1,353,052 in back pay and interest to 2,565 female employees in engineering positions subject to pay discrimination; and $1,232,000 in back pay and interest to 1,757 female and 1,219 Asian applicants for software engineering positions not hired.<p>So that&#x27;s 2.585M &#x2F; 5541 = $467 per employee. Assuming an average comp of $250K, that&#x27;s a 0.2% difference. How can that be determined to be discrimination? Is that even a statistically significant difference?

This may be silly question, but what is &#x27; pay-equity adjustment&#x27; in the article? Quick search does not provide easy understanding.

$3.8 million for over 5000 employees affected by discrimination against female and asian software engineers? Where are the condemnation and marches against this systemic injustice against marginalized groups?<p>$3.8 million is just pocket lint to Google. The sum is so low, it&#x27;s like someone walking by and ignoring a penny on the ground.