Google, Black Workers Reach $50 Million Race Bias Settlement (1)

Google LLC has agreed to pay $50 million to settle race discrimination allegations brought by a proposed class of Black workers who said the tech giant pushed them into dead-end jobs and denied them advancement.

The proposed deal would benefit approximately 4,000 Black and other “Black+" workers—Google’s internal designation akin to the EEOC category of “Two or More Races” where one is Black—according to a motion filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

“The Settlement is an outstanding result for the Settlement Class,” the parties said. “More than substantial monetary relief, the Settlement Agreement codifies meaningful non-monetary relief.”

Class counsel here will seek attorneys’ fees of up to 25% of the settlement fund, the parties said, and counsel intends to apply for service awards of up to $50,000 for each of the three class representatives.

The agreement includes a commitment to continue to analyze pay to identify unexplained differences based on race, and a reaffirmation of its pledge “to not ask for or base” compensation decisions on the salary histories of applicants, the motion said. Google also won’t require any employee to enter into mandatory arbitration agreements for employment-related disputes or enforce existing agreements through August of 2026.

Hiring managers viewed Black candidates as not “Googly” enough, and interviewers allegedly hazed Black candidates by asking them “level-inappropriate questions” to hurt their prospects, said April Curley, hired as a university programs specialist in 2014 to help the company expand its outreach to Black college students, according to her complaint.

Curley claimed she was fired in 2020 after she “vocally opposed and called for reform of the barriers and double standards Google imposed on Black employees and applicants.” Curley is Black.

Jurisdictional issues prevented Curley and another Black ex-employee from moving forward in the suit with some of their individual discrimination allegations against Google, an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary, the court ruled in December of 2023.

The parties here agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, according to the proposed joint stipulation for dismissal.

Paul Hastings LLP represents Google. Ben Crump Law PLLC; Stowell & Friedman Ltd.; and Sam Sani of Pasadena, Calif., represent Curley and the other workers.

The case is Curley v. Google LLC, N.D. Cal., No. 4:22-cv-01735, motion 5/8/25.