Google sees major claims of harassment and discrimination as lawsuits proceed
A San Francisco judge ruled last week on allowing two class-action lawsuits to proceed against Google. One class-action lawsuit had accused the tech giant of systematically undercompensating women as well as diverting them into lower paying jobs and promoting them at slower rates. The other lawsuit being brought alleges that Google permits a “bro-culture” which allowed a female engineer to experience daily harassment in the form of pranks, lewd comments, and in one case, physical violence. The female engineer is also claiming wrongful termination. In the latter case, Google had argued last week that the matter should not be resolved in court but in private arbitration, a means which has received criticism in recent months due to the #metoo movement. The engineer’s attorney refiled the case as a class-action suit in order to force Google to face the allegations in open court rather than in private arbitration.
See "Google sees major claims of harassment and discrimination as lawsuits proceed", Sam Levin, The Guardian, April 6, 2018