A new lawsuit has been filed against tech giant Google, accusing the company of systemic racial bias.
April Curley, the plaintiff, has alleged that Google rarely hires Black employees and when it does so, puts them in lower-level jobs that have few career progression paths and pay less.
According to the allegations, when Curley was hired at Google in 2014, just 1.9% of its workforce identified as Black or African American. In the two years following, Google hired five white top-level executives, while the number of African Americans in these positions remained one.
In addition to the lack of increased pay or career progression, the lawsuit alleges that workers at Google’s headquarters face harassment by security, often having to deal with heavy questioning and identification inquiries.
“Black Google employees face a hostile work environment and suffer retaliation if they dare to challenge or oppose the company’s discriminatory practices,” the complaint read.
Ben Crump, the lawyer representing Curley who also represented George Floyd’s family, said that Google’s attempts at diversity are negated due the company “undervaluing, underpaying, and mistreating their Black employees.”
Last December, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing was reportedly investigating Google’s treatment of Black women employees.
