Lawsuit Accuses Google of Systematic Bias Against Black Employees

A former employee at Google sued the tech giant on Friday, claiming it engages in systemic bias against Black workers.

Reuters reports the lawsuit, filed on Friday in a San Jose, California federal court, accuses Google of maintaining a “racially biased corporate culture” by placing Black employees in lower-level jobs, paying them less and denying them opportunities to advance because of their race.

“Google is engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of intentional race discrimination and retaliation and maintains employment policies and practices that have a disparate impact against Black employees throughout the United States,” the complaint said.

The plaintiff, April Curley, who worked as a diversity recruiter at Google from 2014 until 2020, claims that the search engine company “subjected Blacks to a hostile work environment, including by often requiring they show identification or be questioned by security at its Mountain View, California campus.”

Curley’s suit also points out that “Black people comprise only 4.4% of employees and about 3% of leadership and its technology workforce.”

Curley claims Google fired her in September 2020 after she and her colleagues began working on a list of desired reforms.

“While Google claims that they were looking to increase diversity, they were actually undervaluing, underpaying and mistreating their Black employees,” Curley’s lawyer Ben Crump said in a statement to Reuters.

Curley is seeking to recoup punitive damages and lost compensation for current and former Black employees at Google, and to restore their positions.