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Google slapped with lawsuit over ‘racially biased corporate culture’

March 19, 2022 | | Print Article

The super-woke, super-inclusive Google has been hit with a lawsuit seeking class-action status that alleges the Big Tech giant maintains a “racially biased corporate culture” against black employees.

It’s a stunning claim considering that, if you ask Google Assistant if “black lives matter,” the response you are likely to receive is, “Black lives matter. Black people deserve the same freedoms afforded to everyone in the country, and recognizing the injustice they face is the first step towards fixing it.”

Nevertheless, the complaint filed by April Curley claims that “Black people comprise only 4.4% of employees and about 3% of leadership and its technology workforce,” according to Reuters.

Curley also alleges that black employees are subjected to a hostile work environment at the Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O) unit, “including by often requiring they show identification or be questioned by security at its Mountain View, California campus.”

The complaint, filed in San Jose federal court, follows an investigation of Alphabet Inc. by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, California’s civil rights regulator, into the way Google treats its black female employees and questions of discrimination.

“Google said it is focused on ‘building sustainable equity’ for its Black workers and that 2020 was its largest year for hiring what it calls ‘Black+’ workers, a designation inclusive of people belonging to multiple races,” Reuters reported in December.

“Our goal is to ensure that every employee experiences Google as an inclusive workplace,” Google stated. “We’ll continue to focus on this important work and thoroughly investigate any concerns to make sure our workplace is representative and equitable.”

“Workers identifying as ‘Black+ female’ left Google at the highest rate of any racial-gender group other than ‘Native American+ female’ last year, according to company data,” Reuters stated.

Curley was hired by Google in 2014 to create an outreach program aimed at historically Black colleges, however, she claims bringing her on board was nothing more than a “marketing ploy” by Google. It wasn’t long, Curley alleges before her supervisors began painting her as an “angry” black woman and started belittling her work.

She was passed over for promotions before being fired in September 2020, after Curley and her colleagues began making a list of reforms they would like to see implemented.

“While Google claims that they were looking to increase diversity, they were actually underpaying and mistreating their Black employees,” said Ben Crump, attorney for Ms. Curley.

If Crump’s name sounds familiar, it is probably because he was the civil rights attorney who represented George Floyd’s family following his infamous death in 2020.

Curley is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as “lost compensation for current and former Black employees at Google.” Additionally, the suit wants those Black employees to be restored to their proper positions and seniority.

Google did not immediately respond with a comment.

Melissa Fine
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