This Week in Tech, Race, and Gender - DINT 146

Google juggles two discrimination class action lawsuits at once, excluding Black employees from Hispanic and Indigenous ones, possibly to reduce their exposure to dama

Mar 30, 2025

Last week’s news of Google requiring the exclusion Black employees from a class action suit before they agreed to a $28 million settlement for racial discrimination has a bit more context now.

Last week’s settlement of the class action lawsuit filed by former Googler Ana Cantu, is restricted to non-Black groups (Hispanic, Latinx, Indigenous, Native American, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Alaska Native) because the company is already battling a class action lawsuit brought by former Googler April Curley in March 2022. April is Black and she’s representing employees in California and New York. We reported on April’s story in previous issues of DINT.

Here’s a look at the differences between the two cases:

Reading ‘below the fold’ about the Cantu class action lawsuit gives a clearer picture of Google’s systemic racism problem. The $28 million settlement, as is the custom, doesn’t represent admission of any wrongdoing according to Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini.

‘We admit no guilt, but here’s $28 million’

Here’s what she told Reuters, “We continue to disagree with the allegations that we treated anyone differently, and remain committed to paying, hiring and leveling all employees fairly.”

The class of affected employees in Cantu’s case is 6,632 people. After legal fees and court costs, the $28 million goes down to $20,434,000, according to court documents. That gives an average payout of $2,900 per class member of the lawsuit. Could three stacks make up for lost wages and lost career opportunities? Probably not. So, what’s the point? Will this legal action deter Google from discriminating again? What if the settlement terms weren’t monetary but operational, requiring Google to substantiate and equalize all hiring practices?

Would you take that trade?

Black employees get day in court … soon?

April Curley’s class action representing Black employees at Google is still pending and survived an early motion to dismiss the case by Google’s legal team. Curley has Ben Crump on her legal team. You may remember him from high profile cases about Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Michael Brown.

It’s good to know Curlely is giving herself the best chance of winning this case. Others have sued Google in the past and have failed within months of filing complaints due to lack of competent legal representation.

The last filing I could find about the case was entered into the record on May 3, 2023. It was a declaration that Google wouldn’t exclude employees that were let go on January 11, 2023 during Google’s massive layoffs from the class action lawsuit.

The case still appears to be active and snaking its way through the Northern District of California’s court system. Stay tuned for updates.