Labor Dept. sues Google over pay data
But Google says it is trying to safeguard private employee info
The Labor Department is going to court to force Google to turn over compensation data during an antidiscrimination audit.
The administrative lawsuit filed Wednesday claims Google has withheld compensation data and other information requested by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs as part of a routine audit of the Internet giant’s equal opportunity program.
The department has asked an administrative law judge to compel Google as a federal contractor to comply or cancel Google’s current government contracts and bar the company from entering into future contracts.
“Despite many opportunities to produce this information voluntarily, Google has refused to do so,” OFCCP Acting Director Thomas Dowd said in a statement.
In a statement, Google said it has provided hundreds of thousands of records over the last year, including compensation. The company is balking at turning over the private information of employees.
“The handful of OFCCP requests that are the subject of the complaint are overbroad in scope, or reveal confidential data, and we’ve made this clear to the OFCCP, to no avail,” the statement said. “These requests include thousands of employees’ private contact information which we safeguard rigorously. We hope to continue working with OFCCP to resolve this matter.”
Cliff Palefsky, an employment attorney who represents employees in labor disputes, said the concern over employees’ private information “seems like a pretty weak basis to refuse to give information to the government.”
“I do respect employees’ right of privacy and the obligation of employers to protect it. But it is not an absolute right — the interests are normally balanced,” Palefsky said.
The lawsuit comes as Silicon Valley faces growing pressure to increase diversity across the industry, which is dominated by white and Asian men. In recent years, major technology companies have begun to make public commitments to hire more women and minorities, but progress has been slow. In 2015, a former Google employee alleged a pattern of pay inequity, a charge the company denied.
Google, which has positioned itself at the forefront of the push for greater gender and ethnic diversity, said Wednesday that it’s “very committed” to its affirmative-action obligations and the diversity of its workforce.
As a federal contractor, Google is barred from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or against military veterans. And Google, like any federal contractor, must allow the federal government to review records and information relevant to the company’s compliance with equal employment laws administered by OFCCP, the Labor Department said.
In recent months, the Labor Department has become more aggressive in enforcement of Silicon Valley tech companies. In September, it filed an administrative lawsuit alleging a pattern of discrimination against Asian job applicants at Palantir, a datamining company valued at $20 billion and co-founded Peter Thiel. Palantir denied the discrimination allegation.