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Women Sue Google for "Systemic Discrimination"

Three former employees allege the tech giant knowingly underpays women.

Ex-Google employees on Thursday filed suit against the tech giant for systematically underpaying women, the latest development in Silicon Valley's ongoing gender discrimination crisis.

Three women — Kelly Ellis, Holly Pease, and Kelli Wisuri — allege that Google knowingly discriminates against female employees when it comes to compensation, violating multiple California laws, including the California Equal Pay Act. They cite evidence from a Labor Department inquiry of Google, in which investigators found "six to seven standard deviations between pay for men and women in nearly every job classification in 2015," which indicates a "one in a 100 million chance that the disparity is occurring randomly."

The complaint alleges that Google's organizational structure offers better compensation for employees in "technical"-track positions, in which men are offered jobs and promotions more frequently than women. The plaintiffs are being represented by two firms — Altshuler Berzon and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein — the latter of which served as lead counsel in the successful $415 million Silicon Valley wage-fixing class-action case that was settled in 2014.

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