Lawsuit Accuses Google of Bias Against Black Employees

A former employee of the company sued the company on Friday, claiming that it systematically discriminated against Black workers by placing them in lower-level jobs, underpaying them and denying them opportunities to advance.

The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. April Curley was dismissed from her job at Google in 2020. Ms. Curley helped bring in Black employees to the company by designing programs to recruit from historically Black colleges and universities.

The complaint said that the employment policies and practices of the company have a disparate impact against Black employees.

A spokesman for the company didn't respond to a request for comment.

Many Black employees have complained about working at Google in the past. Even as it has grown to become one of the largest private employers in the United States, the company has struggled to increase racial and gender diversity among its work force.

According to the diversity report, 4.2 percent of the employees at the U.S. office are Black, one of which is Black. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national average for digital publishing and search companies is 9.1 percent.

According to the lawsuit, Black employees were hired at a lower job status than was appropriate for their experience. The company was able to underpay Black employees relative to their peers because of the pay tied to job levels.

The complaint said that qualified black candidates were often not considered for discrimination. Black job candidates were often asked difficult questions in order to do poorly in interviews, and it was accused of hiring Black workers with less advancement potential.

Ms. Curley said she was subject to a hostile work environment. She said that she was often mistaken for two other Black female colleagues. She said that she and her colleagues had not been allowed to speak or present during important meetings and that she had felt sexualized when a manager asked which colleagues she wanted to sleep with.

According to the lawsuit, Ms. Curley was reprimanded and her pay was reduced for challenging internal practices. The company terminated Ms. Curley's employment in September 2020 after putting her on a performance improvement plan.