A group of Black Google employees have reached a $50 million settlement with the tech giant in a race discrimination class action lawsuit that alleged systemic bias in hiring, pay, promotion and performance evaluation practices.
The proposed settlement, filed on May 8, 2025, would resolve claims brought by approximately 4,000 Black and Black+ employees who worked at Google’s California and New York locations between 2017 and 2023. The settlement awaits preliminary approval from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Background of the lawsuit
The lawsuit was initially filed in March 2022 by A.C., a Black woman hired by Google in 2014 to expand the company’s outreach to Black college students. A.C. claimed that despite working diligently and performing at a high level, she experienced persistent discrimination because of her race and was wrongfully terminated after six years.
According to court documents, A.C. alleged that she had been “assigned a lower-level role, paid lower wages, rated unfairly on her performance, subjected to a hostile work environment, and denied advancement and leadership roles because she was Black.”
The amended complaint eventually included multiple plaintiffs who alleged Google engaged in a “pattern or practice of race discrimination and retaliation” and maintained “employment policies and practices that have a disparate impact against Black employees throughout the United States.”
Settlement class and terms
The settlement class includes Black or Black+ Google employees who worked in job levels 3, 4, 5, and/or 6 in California between March 2018 and December 2023, or in New York between October 2017 and December 2023. Employees who exclusively held jobs in Google’s legal departments or who previously signed general releases are excluded.
In addition to the $50 million monetary fund, the settlement includes significant non-monetary provisions. For three years after the effective date, Google will:
- Continue analyzing pay to identify unexplained differences based on race before finalizing annual pay changes
- Maintain methods for employees to report concerns about leveling, pay, or unfair reviews
- Investigate concerns and take remedial action where appropriate
- Continue listing salary ranges in job advertisements
- Provide current employees with access to salary ranges upon request
- Refrain from asking about or basing compensation on applicants’ salary history
- Not require employees to enter into mandatory arbitration agreements for employment-related disputes through August 2026
Individual claims resolution process
Unlike many class action settlements that distribute funds using a formula based on time in position, this settlement establishes an individualized claims resolution process that will assess each class member’s specific experiences and damages.
The process will be overseen by Professor Lynn P. Cohn, Co-Director of the Center on Negotiation, Mediation, and Restorative Justice at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, who will serve as trustee. She will review claim forms and make final award determinations.
“This program maintains the flexibility to compensate for damages resulting from forms of alleged discrimination beyond wage disparities, such as a hostile work environment or wrongful discharge,” according to the motion for preliminary approval.
Class counsel explained that the individualized approach ensures “Settlement Class Members’ Individual Settlement Payments will be directly tied to the damages they would allege from the claims they are releasing, which may extend beyond strict wage loss and encompass all forms of alleged employment-based race discrimination.”
Contested litigation
The settlement comes after more than three years of contested litigation and extensive discovery. The parties engaged in formal mediation sessions and exchanged significant data, including comprehensive workforce information on prior work experience, education history, job titles, locations, compensation histories, bonus and equity awards, performance reviews, and demographic data.
Class counsel retained labor economists to analyze the data and conduct statistical analyses on factors like attrition, racial representation across various job parameters, and compensation studies, including regression models.
According to the motion, the plaintiffs’ expert estimated wage differentials at approximately $52 million when eliminating variables from the regression analysis that the settlement class challenged as tainted, but controlling for other variables such as job level, job sub-family, tenure, location, and prior experience and education.
The expert also estimated the highest potential wage losses due to less favorable treatment with respect to leveling at approximately $229 million.
Google, however, denied that any racial wage disparities existed based on its own regression analysis, which controlled for factors such as position held, job level, length of service, prior experience, education and performance.
Attorney fees and service awards
Class counsel will seek attorney fees of up to 25% of the settlement fund ($12.5 million) plus reimbursement for expenses estimated at about $211,500. They have committed to providing assistance to all settlement class members throughout the claims resolution process without seeking additional fees.
The motion also indicates counsel will apply for service awards of up to $50,000 for each of the three settlement class representatives, citing the professional risks and substantial time they dedicated to the case.
For more information see the court documents at:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.393264/gov.uscourts.cand.393264.138.0.pdf
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.393264/gov.uscourts.cand.393264.1.0.pdf
