Women in Google?

In August, 2017 Google fired a software engineer(James Damore) who wrote an internal memo that questioned the company’s diversity efforts and argued that the low number of women in technical positions was a result of biological differences instead of discrimination.

Just in September, 2017 a lawsuit filed by three former employees claims Google is systematically and knowingly paying women employees less than comparable male workers. Google says allegations are untrue.

The complaint, filed in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco Thursday, September 14, 2017 accused Google of systematically and knowingly paying women lower wages and compensating them less overall than male employees with substantially similar skills and experience.

The three ex employees who filed the lawsuit are: Kelly Ellis, who worked as a software engineer at Google between 2010 and 2014; Holly Pease who left Google in 2016 as a senior manager of business system integration; and Kelli Wisuri, a brand evangelist for the company between 2012 and 2015.

In a statement, Google spokeswoman Gina Scigliano said the company is reviewing the lawsuit, but disagrees with its central allegations. "We work really hard to create a great workplace for everyone, and to give everyone the chance to thrive here," she noted.

After the initial review the Labor Department asked Google for more compensation data, this time dating back to 2014. The agency says it is trying to find out if the wage gap it discovered during its first analysis is part of a broader pattern of discrimination against women at Google.