Black Google employees are moving closer to a $50 million settlement in a class action discrimination lawsuit. April Curley, who joined Google in 2014 to recruit Black students from college campuses, said she was quickly steered toward lower-level roles and paid less than her white peers. By 2020, she had left the company. Curley and thousands of other Black employees claim they faced systemic racial discrimination, including being passed over for promotions, assigned lower-level roles, and denied equal opportunities despite performing the same work as white colleagues.
On Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis Westmore granted preliminary approval of a $50 million settlement covering more than 4,000 current and former Black employees in California and New York who worked at Google between 2017 and 2023. The settlement will use an individualized claims process, allowing participants to submit forms detailing lost wages and emotional distress. Google will also implement changes over the next three years, including reviewing pay practices to identify racial disparities, maintaining reporting channels for employee concerns, providing salary ranges in job postings, and pausing mandatory arbitration for employment disputes until August 2026. Class members have until March 20, 2026, to opt out or file objections, with a final approval hearing set for May 7, 2026.