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Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

theguardian.com

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Re: Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

#111

Post by unclebucknasty »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #74
unclebucknasty wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There was a ERG for literally every single race except White people. "Just join one of the others" was what they told me. Imagine moving to say, Switzerland, to work for a massive corporation. 90% of the employees are Swiss. The other 10% come from a smattering of other countries from around the world. To help those employees acclimate to a new culture and find support, the company sponsors country-based ERGs. Of c…

If Swiss and white were the same thing, that would make a lot of sense. On the other hand if you were a Ukrainian refugee or something, learning Swiss-German as a second language and struggling to integrate into the company's Swiss culture, then it might feel extra-alienating if the company suggests you could join the Asian or Indian employee support groups to help you bridge the culture gap. OTOH, for the same reaso…

>If Swiss and white were the same thing, that would make a lot of sense

We all have multiple identities. We relate to those identities and others relate to us by those identities—at times, unfortunately. So, you can substitute any identity here, and it still makes sense.

>it might feel extra-alienating if the company suggests you could join the Asian or Indian employee support groups

Not necessarily. There's certainly some overlap in experience, as they are all working to integrate into the same culture.

What you may be missing here is that it's not strictly about which specific group, but also about the fact that the group is not the majority / "culture-defining group".

>OTOH, for the same reason, skin-color-based groups don't really make sense to begin with.

Oh, if only they didn't, my friend. What a world this would be. It's worth noting that it's generally not those "skin-colors" who made these groups necessary. Part of it is just the complicated tribalism of humans. And, yes, another part of it is that some people have taken advantage of that tribalism.

Re: Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

#112

Post by [deleted] »

reissbaker wrote: post #48
rchaud wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got any evidence for that? Is Google in the habit of paying out giant HR-related settlements for something other than protecting good ol' boys like Andy Rubin? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andy-rubin-google-settlement-se... Google has enough money to hire the best law firms too. Why would any law firm engage in frivolous litigation against a potential future client? The linked settlement is 10X that of this one, whic…

As another commenter pointed out elsewhere, Google recently paid out a settlement claiming that it discriminated against Asians. https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ofccp/ofccp20210201 This settlement claims they favored Asians, but Google paid it out too! So, yes, it appears Google is in the habit of paying out contradictory settlements rather than litigating them.

[deleted]

Re: Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

#113

Post by rchaud »

dionidium wrote: post #64
rchaud wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got any evidence for that? Is Google in the habit of paying out giant HR-related settlements for something other than protecting good ol' boys like Andy Rubin? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andy-rubin-google-settlement-se... Google has enough money to hire the best law firms too. Why would any law firm engage in frivolous litigation against a potential future client? The linked settlement is 10X that of this one, whic…

> Got any evidence for that? Is Google in the habit of paying out giant HR-related settlements for something other than protecting good ol' boys like Andy Rubin? The state of US case law -- IANAL, this is a layman's understanding -- is that plaintiffs only have to show that there exists "disparate impact," which is to say that outcomes were not exactly the same for Asians/whites and blacks. Two things can be true: 1)…

That is not evidence of a shakedown by a corporate law firm, which is the original allegation.

Google, Apple and others have colluded to not poach employees from each other, distorting a free labor market, and settled that for $400m.[0]

[0]https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/apple-google-others-...

It's not exactly beyond the realm of possibility that individual managers at Google had discriminatory promotion practices. Google picks up the legal tab for their alleged malfeasance, because they empower managers to make those decisions.

If it is so easy to squeeze some cash out of a major company, I'd imagine Google, Apple and many others in California would be cutting checks left and right to dodge lawsuits alleging violations of the state's Equal Pay Act, which saw its last major update in 2018, enacted into law in Jan 2019.[1]

https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/california_equal_pay_act.htm

Re: Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

#114

Post by s1artibartfast »

bradley13 wrote: post #30
skybrian wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would group averages be helpful when making staffing decisions about individuals?

That's obvious, no? If group X on average performs better than group Y, then objective hiring will lead to more group X bring hired. Then group Y takes you to court for discrimination.

It really depends on what assumptions you are making, your basis of comparison, and how you measure performance.

Does X perform better than Y in general or within the community. Does hiring match national population, the applicant pool, or the top 1% of the applicant pool? How do you measure performance?

These topics are rarely fleshed out in any public corporate policy. All I know is my bonus depends on increasing the % of minority employees.

Re: Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

#115

Post by deadlydose »

moate wrote: post #97
dietr1ch wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side rant. Cut the Latinx crap please, Latinos don't really feel represented by the force-fed "inclusive" name that straight up goes against their gendered languages. It's overriding the language to seem more inclusive in English

Just to be clear on this one: are you Latino? Why do you speak for them? I have latino friends who insist on that language, some who don't give a fuck, and latinx friends who own that jab at the patriarchal idea of forcing gender on genderless objects or groups. Put another way: The NAACP didn't change their name, but if you called most black folk I know "colored" they'd punch you in the throat. Language is fluid and…

> Why do you speak for them?

Why do you?

Re: Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

#116

Post by [deleted] »

dionidium wrote: post #64
rchaud wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got any evidence for that? Is Google in the habit of paying out giant HR-related settlements for something other than protecting good ol' boys like Andy Rubin? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andy-rubin-google-settlement-se... Google has enough money to hire the best law firms too. Why would any law firm engage in frivolous litigation against a potential future client? The linked settlement is 10X that of this one, whic…

> Got any evidence for that? Is Google in the habit of paying out giant HR-related settlements for something other than protecting good ol' boys like Andy Rubin? The state of US case law -- IANAL, this is a layman's understanding -- is that plaintiffs only have to show that there exists "disparate impact," which is to say that outcomes were not exactly the same for Asians/whites and blacks. Two things can be true: 1)…

[deleted]

Re: Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

#118

Post by wijwp »

yieldcrv wrote: post #99
wijwp wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a white man who used to work for G: > There was a ERG for literally every single race except White people. "Just join one of the others" was what they told me. What would an ERG for white people even do? What would you want from it? > Nonwhite employees in my org also got a special mentor who helped them get a leg-up in the company. There are general mentorship programs, too. Usually focused on career development.…

I’m uninitiated to this concept and not white and I’m scratching my head about why these same questions arent asked for “employee resource groups” of other minority “themes” as well as why the ability to empathise is so apparent for those other themes but not so easily imagined for this person who is white forgot the EEOC, I’m about to go to the SEC Whistleblower bounty program since shareholders might want to know h…

Well, most other groups have had a rough go at it throughout recent history, and often have to approach the workplace differently because it takes a long time to reverse some of our previous mistakes.

We considered many black folks property until 1865, and we had segregation of some schools in the 1960s. We didn't let women vote until 1920. We put Japanese people in internment camps until 1946. Gay folks couldn't marry in all states until 2015. Do I have to list more?

If you don't think this kind of stuff leaks into the workplace, then I don't think you're paying attention.

Re: Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

#119

Post by randomNumber7 »

footlose_3815 wrote: post #61
sampton wrote: post #5

Google is guilty of a lot of things but this is a drive-by shakedown by predatory law firms.

The people who are running the diversity stuff at Google when I was there were very "Eye-for-an-eye". Some dumb stuff that happened while I was at Google: * There was a ERG for literally every single race except White people. "Just join one of the others" was what they told me. * During an onboarding learning exercise because I was merely showing initiative before the rest of the group. "Ok everyone here's my idea".…

So when some are preferred with "equal" skills others are discriminated against.

Why should a rational person support people who act against him. This will horribly backfire...

Re: Google to pay $28M to settle claims it favoured white and Asian employees

#120

Post by yieldcrv »

wijwp wrote: post #118
yieldcrv wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m uninitiated to this concept and not white and I’m scratching my head about why these same questions arent asked for “employee resource groups” of other minority “themes” as well as why the ability to empathise is so apparent for those other themes but not so easily imagined for this person who is white forgot the EEOC, I’m about to go to the SEC Whistleblower bounty program since shareholders might want to know h…

Well, most other groups have had a rough go at it throughout recent history, and often have to approach the workplace differently because it takes a long time to reverse some of our previous mistakes. We considered many black folks property until 1865, and we had segregation of some schools in the 1960s. We didn't let women vote until 1920. We put Japanese people in internment camps until 1946. Gay folks couldn't mar…

That doesn't explain why ERG's exist for that, and it doesn't explain why they are dismissive of what people who are white && and not women encounter in life or as an employee, seeking resources

Why are you invalidating their experience, its look like you have let something else leak into the workplace under an amusingly ironic interpretation of empathy

Let's write it again in a different way: Nothing about the name "Employee Resource Group" suggests that "state-sanctioned disenfranchisement at some point in the country's history" is the only reason or prerequisite for an employee seeking resources

Looks like an another race and ethnicity settlement is brewing

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