Google Gets Temporary Relief From Wage and Hour Claims

Wage and hour claims based on alleged sex bias at Google were recently dismissed, but plaintiffs will be given a second chance over claims that women were being less for the same work and being offered fewer promotion chances at the tech giant.

Judge in California Says New Complaint Must Be Filed With Google Wage and Hour Claims

A state judge in California has dismissed class action claims. According to the judge, the wage and hour claims lawsuit alleged that it represented all women in California who worked for Google; however, the plaintiffs could not represent such a class.

The plaintiffs were given the chance to file a new complaint within a 30-day period. The plaintiffs will need to narrow their wage and hour claims to only those women who allegedly suffered pay discrimination at the hands of Google.

Three women came together to initiate the wage and hour claims lawsuit against Google in September. The plaintiffs say that they will file a new complaint for those women who experienced pay discrimination.

While this is the first wage and hour claims suit against Google based on pay discrimination, it’s not the first against a tech company. The Department of Labor already initiated a suit against Oracle America based on allegations that the company paid white men more than minorities or women holding similar jobs.

Twitter and Microsoft are also facing lawsuits drawn from allegations of sex bias. One Qualcomm lawsuit of wage and hour claims was settled last year for more than $19 million.

The three women who came forward to start the sex bias wage and hour claims lawsuit against Google are a former manager, a communications specialist, and a previous software engineer for the company.

Those women allege that they are not the only ones who have suffered pay discrimination at the company. They allege that state labor laws were violated because women were paid less and provided fewer promotion opportunities.

In response to the wage and hour claims, Google says that their employment decisions are based entirely by promotion and hiring committees, the members of which are carefully vetted to remove bias.



The judge who currently reviewed the materials submitted by the plaintiffs said that the paperwork was too vague, and that in order to proceed, they must show that specific groups of women were negatively affected by sex bias practices.

The judge also said that two of the female plaintiffs had not provided enough material to support their allegation that they were involved in substantially similar work as men who received higher pay.

The U.S. Department of Labor has already opened an investigation into Google’s practices to determine whether or not gender bias affects pay.

If you or someone you know has been negatively impacted by illegal wage and hour practices, you need to consult with the experienced lawyers at Bradley/Grombacher- fill out the form on this page to learn more.

The wage and hour claims lawsuit is Ellis v. Google, Case No. CGC-17-561299, filed in the California Superior Court in San Francisco County.

Note: Bradley/Grombacher is not representing the plaintiff in this lawsuit.