Google discriminated against Ulku Rowe, a former executive, because of her gender and must pay $1,150,000 in compensation and damages, reports Bloomberg Law‘s Beth Wang.
Rowe claimed Google discriminated against her by hiring her at a lower level, paying her less than her male peers who were doing similar work, and denying her a promotion for which she was qualified. The promotion, she argued, went to a less qualified man.
She came into the job with 23 years of experience in the financial services and technology field but was hired as a level eight employee while other men who were hired at the same time as her, and allegedly had less experience, were hired at level nine. As a level eight employee, Rowe made about $750,000 a year while some of the level nine employees made over $1 million a year.
However, the jury said Rowe didn’t prove that Google paid her less than at least two of her male colleagues, in violation of New York law.
From the coverage it appears to amount to the sort of unintentional but systematic recruiting and HR bias that companies are trying to address with an ineffective mush of corporate programming, consulting, and so on. But let’s not count out the spreading infestation of corporate America by reactionary sexist ideology! More mandatory DEI webinars are clearly needed.
