US government sues Google claiming 'quite extreme' gender gap in pay

Google denies US government claims, insisting that there is no gender pay-gap at the company

Google has denied claims by the US Department of Labor that the company pays more to male staff than it does to female equivalents.

The US Department of Labor is suing the internet giant for "systemic compensation disparities" against female employees compared to men in commensurate roles, after what it said was ‘compelling evidence'.

The news follows accusations in January that Google was withholding information that would enable the case to be investigated in the first place.

Google's federal licence as a contractor insists that such records be available for inspection, but the US government claims that it repeatedly refused to comply when asked to cooperate with a compliance audit.

"We found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce," Janette Wipper, a regional director of the Department of Labour, claimed in a San Francisco, California court.

A spokesman for the Department of Labor legal team said that the discrimination "is quite extreme, even in this industry".

Google has denied all the accusations, saying that there is no gender gap at the company. Google attorney Lisa Barnett Sween said that the case was a "fishing expedition that has absolutely no relevance to the compliance review" and that the request for data was a violation of the fourth amendment, warranting it an ‘unreasonable search'.

In a statement to The Guardian, Google responded: "Every year, we do a comprehensive and robust analysis of pay across genders and we have found no gender pay gap.

"Other than making an unfounded statement which we heard for the first time in court, the DoL [Department of Labor] hasn't provided any data, or shared its methodology."

In recent months, the Department of Labor has begun cases against Palantir and Oracle over payment and hiring policies for non-white staff, which both companies deny.

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