Live
Audio Only
For over two years, Google has violated the labor laws of different nations, paying thousands of temporary workers lower wages than those received by full-time employees, as reported Friday by The Guardian, citing documents and internal company emails.
Since at least May 2019, the multinational's leadership had been aware that it was violating legislation in the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe and Asia. That said, it did not correct its practices immediately because it would have meant increasing costs.
RELATED:
Despite understanding that it could put staffing firms "in a difficult position, legally and ethically," Google followed a plan that ensured legal compliance in the slowest and least costly way possible.
In a response to the report, Spyro Karetsos, Google's chief compliance officer, acknowledged the mistake. "It is clear that this process was not handled in a manner consistent with the high standards we hold ourselves to as a company," he said, saying that the company is doing "a thorough review" and is "committed to identifying and addressing any pay discrepancies that the team has not yet addressed."
Anyways, let’s normalize treating violations of labor law at least as seriously as we treat teenagers shoplifting a Walgreens in San Francisco.
— Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) September 12, 2021
Google illegally underpaid temps by as much as $100m https://t.co/w8vp9Tr0IQ
"We will conduct a review of our compliance practices in this area. In short, we will find out what went wrong here, why it happened and we will correct it," Karetsos added, while also stating that "actual pay scales for temporary staff have been increased several times over that period."
"Most temporary staff are paid significantly more than the comparison rates," he asserted.
Newsletter
