$28 Million Google Settlement Resolves Employee Racial Bias Class Action Lawsuit

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A $28 million settlement has been reached with Google to end a proposed class action lawsuit that alleged the tech giant favored white and Asian employees.

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The settlement covers all current and former Hispanic, Latinx, Indigenous, Native American, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and/or Alaska Native employees who worked for Google in California any time between February 18, 2018 and December 31, 2024.

Class members do not need to do anything to receive a Google settlement payout. Checks will be automatically mailed to covered individuals after the deal receives final approval from the court.

According to court documents, class members will receive a pro-rated share of the $28 million settlement fund, calculated based on their total compensation from February 18, 2018 to December 31, 2024. Each class member is guaranteed a minimum payment of $250, with the average payout estimated to be around $2,900.

The settlement resolves claims brought by a former Google employee who identifies as ethnically Mexican and racially Indigenous. The plaintiff claimed in the class and representative action that the defendant had a “willful” pattern of compensating minority employees less than their white, Asian and Asian American counterparts for substantially similar work. The case also alleged racial and ethnic disparities in career progression at the company.

The complaint cited violations of California’s Labor Code, specifically section 1197.5’s requirement that “[a]n employer shall not pay any of its employees at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of another race or ethnicity for substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions.”

Court documents indicate that the lawsuit initially sought to also cover Black employees, but Google filed a demurrer in February 2023 arguing that the plaintiff couldn’t represent this group since she is not Black. The parties later agreed to “focus the settlement on the group of Google employees most closely aligned to [the plaintiff’s] race/ethnicity,” court documents share.

A discrimination class action filed against Google on behalf of Black employees is currently pending.

The plaintiff’s motion for preliminary settlement approval, filed in February 2025, says the Google deal represents “one of the first settlements of its kind since Labor Code section 1197.5 was updated in 2017 to bridge the wage gap based on race and ethnicity for California employees[.]”

Also as part of the deal, Google has agreed to take steps to address the pay discrimination alleged in the complaint.

The Google class action settlement garnered preliminary approval from a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge earlier this month, and a final approval hearing has been scheduled for September 11, 2025, reports say.

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