According to an article by Insider, a lawsuit filed on Friday, March 18th 2022 has accused Google of systemic racial bias against its black employees in the form of hostile work environment, retaliatory practices, a lack of fair hiring practices, and a denial of advancement and leadership roles due to race, among other issues.
The plaintiff, April Curley, is an African American woman who had previously claimed on Twitter that she was denied promotions and leadership opportunities repeatedly, yelled at, and excluded from meetings while working for Google.
Google: A History of Racial Bias
Insider expands on the lawsuit’s allegations, stating that when Curley was hired by Google in 2014, less than 2% of its employees identified as Black or African American. While over the next two years there remained only a single Black top-level executive, Google hired five additional white top-level executives.
In a statement to Reuters, Curley’s lawyer Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represented George Floyd’s family, said:
While Google claims that they were looking to increase diversity they were actually undervaluing, underpaying, and mistreating their Black employees.
The lawsuit is seeking to move former and current Black employees of Google to their appropriate positions, in addition to seeking compensatory, punitive damages, and lost compensation.