Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump and Stowell & Friedman File Lawsuit on Behalf of Google Employees Facing Race Discrimination

Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump and Stowell & Friedman File Lawsuit on Behalf of Google Employees Facing Race Discrimination (Mountain View, CA) — Plaintiffs and legal team to hold Monday news conference.

Nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump and Stowell & Friedman, Ltd. announced today that they have filed a lawsuit on behalf of April Curley and other former and current Black employees at Google, citing a pattern and practice of racial discrimination.

There will be a news conference on Monday, March 21 at 11 a.m. PT where Black former Google employees will share their stories and experiences of harassment and discrimination at Google.

The lawsuit alleges Curley, who is Black, was hired to an entry level position, although she held a Master’s degree and five years of experience, a common company practice. Curley’s job tasked her with increasing the company’s diversity by recruiting potential employees from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Curley claims that the company’s campaign to generate diversity was actually a public relations move. Instead, she experienced discrimination and hostility based on her race.

“April Curley was an exceptional employee at Google. She was hired to a position well below her qualifications and was consistently wrongfully passed over for promotions,” Crump said. “While Google claims that they were looking to increase diversity, they were actually undervaluing, underpaying, and mistreating their Black employees, leading to high turnover. We will not stop until we get justice for Curley and other Black employees at Google, and until we see real change in this company’s culture.”

Curley was unlawfully terminated from her position after she told managers at the company that she was putting together a report on Google’s discriminatory practices, according to the complaint.

Although Google generates over $150 billion in revenue each year, Google’s Black employees are steered toward lower-level roles with less pay and fewer opportunities for advancement. Employees also often face a hostile work environment and suffer retaliation if they dare to challenge or oppose the company’s discriminatory practices, the complaint alleges.

As evidence of Google’s pattern of discriminatory practices, the complaint cites these facts:

In 2014, Google only had one Black top-level executive out of 25. Over the next two years, Google added five White top-level executives but zero Black executives.

As of 2021, Google’s workforce inched up to 4.4% Black, compared to an average of 9.1% within Google’s industry classification, according to 2021 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

In 2021, Google’s leadership ranks were only 3% Black and its prestigious tech workforce was only 2.9% Black.

Google assigns Black employees to lower levels than their experience and responsibilities warrant and pays Black employees less for performing the same level of work as non-Black employees.

Google segregates its workforce and workplaces, which are permeated by a racially hostile work environment. Black professionals and visitors at Google’s main California campus headquarters have been routinely harassed and targeted based on their race, often being questioned by security or asked to show identification.

In a Google intranet document, Google employees of color shared thousands of “microaggressions” and acts of harassment they faced on a daily basis at Google offices, including being asked to serve their white colleagues or treated as outsiders, who did not belong other than in a service or administrative capacity.

An investigation by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing is currently ongoing. The California Assembly has also started a separate investigation into the alleged discrimination against Black women at the company.

Former Google Black employees

Attorney Ben Crump

March 21, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. PT

Phillip Burton Federal Building

450 Golden Gate Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94102