Court Finds First Amended Complaint Adequately Alleges Google Discriminated Against a Broad Class of Women Employees and Rejects Google’s Challenge to Gender Discrimination and Equal Pay Suit
On March 27, 2018, the San Francisco Superior Court overruled Google’s demurrer to an amended complaint filed by Altshuler Berzon LLP and co-counsel alleging that Google has engaged in systemic and pervasive pay and promotion discrimination against its women employees in California. The court found that the amended complaint adequately alleges that Google has company-wide policies that pay women less than comparable men and that Google assigns women to lower-paying jobs based on gender stereotypes. Based on those alleged policies and stereotyping, and Google’s failure to correct known gender pay differences, the court held that the amended complaint adequately alleges that Google intentionally discriminates against women. Because Google’s alleged discriminatory policies and practices apply throughout the company, the court ruled that the lawsuit may continue against Google for the Engineer and Project Manager Covered Positions, in addition to the Software Engineer, Software Manger, Sales, and Early Childhood Education Covered Positions listed in the amended complaint. The court found that “Plaintiffs’ claims are typical of the entire class, regardless of whether they held an ‘Engineer Covered Position’ or ‘Program Manager Covered Position,’ because the entire class was subject to the same compensation policies and practices.”
The court’s order can be found here.