Lawsuit Accuses Google of Bias Against Black Employees

A former employee at Google sued the company on Friday, claiming it systematically discriminated against Black workers by placing them in lower-level jobs, underpaying them and denying them opportunities to advance.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, seeks class-action status. The plaintiff is April Curley, who worked at Google from 2014 until she was dismissed in 2020. While there, Ms. Curley helped bring in Black employees to the company by designing programs to recruit from historically Black colleges and universities.

“Google is engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of intentional race discrimination and retaliation and maintains employment policies and practices that have a disparate impact against Black employees throughout the United States,” the complaint said.

A Google spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

The lawsuit echoes many of the complaints that Black employees have expressed over the years about working at Google. Even as it has grown to become one of the largest private employers in the United States, the company has struggled to increase racial and gender diversity among its work force — especially among its high-paid engineering staff.