Google Lands Victory in Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

[Megalith]

In a win for Google, a California judge has rejected a class action claim against the company for alleged gender inequity. In September, three former female employees filed a lawsuit against Google, asserting women were paid less than men, assigned to lower paying jobs, and promoted less often.

Superior Court Judge Mary Wiss in San Francisco said on Monday the lawsuit was inappropriate because it was brought on behalf of all women who worked for Google in California. She gave the plaintiffs 30 days to file a new complaint on behalf of only those women who faced pay discrimination. The decision comes as Google faces an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor into sex bias in its pay practices.

 

[Skirge01]

The judge also said that two of the three named plaintiffs had not shown that they performed comparable work to men who were allegedly paid more.

Perhaps the most compelling sentence of the article.

While this (lower pay for identical work) may actually occur, I doubt it's as widespread as some believe.

 

[viper1152012]

Wonder how they determined that...hours logged at work vs Facebook?

 

[steakman1971]

I am a hiring manager where I work. We are "unofficially" encouraged to hire female candidates over male candidates. It's not written down, its never even officially discussed. However, we are certainly pushed in that direction. I can say we start male/females at the same pay.
At least once employees are hired, we go by a merit raise system consisting of performance reviews and the like. I've never had any issues when I rank anyone. I try to be fair. I don't care if you have a pussy, dick, or something else - I just need you to get the job done. If you are good at it and don't cause me grief, you'll do well when I review you.
I also worked for a very large software company. My good friend is female and she is a programmer. We never actually discussed salaries, but we both had the impression we were doing about the same. She received promotions when I did. No discrimination was detected at that place. They were just asses to all employees

 

[Pringle]

Perhaps the most compelling sentence of the article.

Whoa whoa, common sense in a gender discrimination lawsuit?!

 

[Joust]

Perhaps the most compelling sentence of the article.

While this (lower pay for identical work) may actually occur, I doubt it's as widespread as some believe.

Where pay discrimination exists, it should not. I am inclined to agree, however, that it is not so widespread as some would say. A problem where it is, nonetheless.

 

[Master_shake_]

Perhaps the most compelling sentence of the article.

While this (lower pay for identical work) may actually occur, I doubt it's as widespread as some believe.

When you call it a wage gap and not a pay gap the differences disappear

 

[equinox654]

Kinda like how my ex wife made roughly the same hourly rate as me... Yet I made 10-15k a year more than her the 8 Years we we married.
Anytime they were slow she would cut out if she could. Come in an hour late when it suited her. That kind of stuff adds up.

My grandmother watched my kids and lived two miles away, so its not like she HAD to leave to handle the kids.

 

[tetris42]

No discrimination was detected at that place. They were just asses to all employees

I think this is the truth far more often than people realize.

 

[martinmsj]

Perhaps the most compelling sentence of the article.

While this (lower pay for identical work) may actually occur, I doubt it's as widespread as some believe.

It does occur. Why you would refer to it as a myth?

I am a hiring manager where I work. We are "unofficially" encouraged to hire female candidates over male candidates. It's not written down, its never even officially discussed. However, we are certainly pushed in that direction. I can say we start male/females at the same pay.
At least once employees are hired, we go by a merit raise system consisting of performance reviews and the like. I've never had any issues when I rank anyone. I try to be fair. I don't care if you have a pussy, dick, or something else - I just need you to get the job done. If you are good at it and don't cause me grief, you'll do well when I review you.
I also worked for a very large software company. My good friend is female and she is a programmer. We never actually discussed salaries, but we both had the impression we were doing about the same. She received promotions when I did. No discrimination was detected at that place. They were just asses to all employees

One factor is statistics show a higher percentage of woman will not negotiate a job offer versus men. You can't assume things are equal for her. Similar numbers for minorities in these roles as well. On another note, it's difficult for me to negotiate an offer. If a company like Google says "we would like you..." I would have to fight to not interject with "YES, my things are in my car. Thank you Thank you."

 

[Skirge01]

It does occur. Why you would refer to it as a myth?

What part of "may actually occur" implies "myth"?

 

[gxp500]

I am a hiring manager where I work. We are "unofficially" encouraged to hire female candidates over male candidates. It's not written down, its never even officially discussed. However, we are certainly pushed in that direction. I can say we start male/females at the same pay.

Are you given a reason why you're encouraged to hire females over males? Who tells you this, is it a male or female? Are these jobs better suited for females?

 

[Nallexi]

Are you given a reason why you're encouraged to hire females over males? Who tells you this, is it a male or female? Are these jobs better suited for females?

Women are better at keeping the company out of negative media coverage

 

[Krenum]

Whatever, my Grandmother built B17's.

 

[Ocellaris]

Are you given a reason why you're encouraged to hire females over males? Who tells you this, is it a male or female? Are these jobs better suited for females?

Well no, they don’t give you a reason. It goes like this depending on where people work... They make you do a bunch of training and watch videos on diversity. You get a bunch of examples of how teams that lack diversity are they devil because everyone thinks the same and they can’t even figure out how to eat a sandwich. Then you get some posh videos showing how diverse teams of lesbians and immigrants can solve problems so easy they could probably figure out how to launch a milk carton around the moon during a 30 minute meeting. Then you get a quiz about a team of stuck whiteys and profiles full of women and minorities (purely a coincidence I’m sure). To solve problems, you need to drag the profiles of the minorities onto the problems they can solve.

Then you get a sideways look from HR and they ask you if you REALLY understand what you just learned. You return to your team of white dudes and a few weeks later you start getting new resumes from women and minorities with one white dude mixed in (usually an old one too). You interview people and ponder your choices before deciding to hire a transgender lizard person to make HR happy.

 

[gxp500]

Women are better at keeping the company out of negative media coverage

Them female teachers having sex with students would say otherwise.

Well no, they don’t give you a reason. It goes like this depending on where people work... They make you do a bunch of training and watch videos on diversity. You get a bunch of examples of how teams that lack diversity are they devil because everyone thinks the same and they can’t even figure out how to eat a sandwich. Then you get some posh videos showing how diverse teams of lesbians and immigrants can solve problems so easy they could probably figure out how to launch a milk carton around the moon during a 30 minute meeting. Then you get a quiz about a team of stuck whiteys and profiles about a full of women and minorities (purely a coincidence I’m sure). To solve problems, you need to drag the profiles of the minorities onto the problems they can solve.

Then you get a sideways look from HR and they ask you if you REALLY understand what you just learned. You return to your team of white dudes and a few weeks later you start getting new resumes from women and minorities with one white dude mixed in (usually an old one too). You interview people and ponder your choices before deciding to hire a transgender lizard person to make HR happy.

Who says a dozen white males with blue eyes aren't diverse?

 

[TheHig]

Ocellaris

Ok. That was funny. I’m pretty sure you have just described what has transpired at my place of employment over the past year or so.

Hilarious!

 

[c_porter]

Who says a dozen white males with blue eyes aren't diverse?

Diversity coaches or whatever they call themselves now. Except that one at Apple that was just fired for breaking away from the groupthink

 

[steakman1971]

Are you given a reason why you're encouraged to hire females over males? Who tells you this, is it a male or female? Are these jobs better suited for females?

Upper management. The head honcho is a male - our workplace encourages diversity and they believe it makes for a more productive environment.
I was on a hiring committee 2 years ago. We had three candidates left - 2 males, 1 female. One of the males was not a good fit, made sense not to bring him on board. The other male had a lot more relevant experience and was recommended by the majority of the higher committee. The female candidate was OK and had some experience. Compared with the one guy though, no comparison. The female was selected.
To be fair, the hiring manager in this case did have a few meetings and interviews with both candidates and my committee was not made privy to these. The committee I was on was only a recommendation and the ultimate decision was up to the head honcho.
I've had personal conversations where I was told we needed a certain number of female employees. No emails or written communication. The candidates we hired were OK, but we did pass over a few males that would have been better at the job.

 

[[21CW]killerofall]

Upper management. The head honcho is a male - our workplace encourages diversity and they believe it makes for a more productive environment.
I was on a hiring committee 2 years ago. We had three candidates left - 2 males, 1 female. One of the males was not a good fit, made sense not to bring him on board. The other male had a lot more relevant experience and was recommended by the majority of the higher committee. The female candidate was OK and had some experience. Compared with the one guy though, no comparison. The female was selected.
To be fair, the hiring manager in this case did have a few meetings and interviews with both candidates and my committee was not made privy to these. The committee I was on was only a recommendation and the ultimate decision was up to the head honcho.
I've had personal conversations where I was told we needed a certain number of female employees. No emails or written communication. The candidates we hired were OK, but we did pass over a few males that would have been better at the job.

Now the other conversations that you were not privy to may have made a difference in hiring decision but just solely based on what you provided, that is discrimination. Companies should just hire the best person for the job, regardless of personal attributes (age, sex, gender identification, sexual orientation, etc). Now if you have multiple candidates for a job and they are all equally qualified, I am OK with picking the person who increases your diversity.