Report: Google has illegally underpaid thousands of temporary workers since 2019

New Guardian investigation pulls no punches while detailing Google’s treatment of temporary workers, stating: “Google has illegally underpaid thousands of temporary workers in dozens of countries and delayed rate corrections pay for more than two years as he tried to cover up the problem. “

The Guardian says it has seen documents indicating that Google has been aware of the problem since 2019 and “rather than immediately correcting the errors, the company dragged its feet for more than two years, the documents show, citing concerns about the problem. ‘increased costs for departments that rely heavily on temporary workers, potential exposure to legal claims and fear of negative press attention.’

Google employs many temporary workers for various purposes in its tech empire, and many countries in the UK, Europe and Asia have laws that require these workers to be paid as much as regular employees. TThe Guardian report states that Google did not do this and that “Google admitted the failures and said it would investigate after being contacted by the Guardian.”

Google chief compliance officer Spyro Karetsos told the Guardian:

Although the team has not increased the benchmark rates for a few years, the actual pay rates for temporary staff have increased several times during this period. Most temporary agents are paid significantly more than the benchmark rates.

Nonetheless, it is clear that this process was not managed to the high standards we hold as a company. We conduct a thorough review and are committed to identifying and correcting any pay gap that the team has not yet resolved. And we will conduct a review of our compliance practices in this area. Anyway, we’ll find out what went wrong here [and] why it happened, and we’ll fix it.

While Google is known for its lavish campuses and generous benefits for its full-time employees, the company also employs an equal number of temporary workers as “ghost labor.” Bloomberg detailed Google’s use of temporary workers in 2018, saying, “They serve meals and clean offices. workers who fuel the $ 795 billion company but reap only a few of the benefits and opportunities available to direct employees. “

Today, The Guardian says, “The departments that rely on temporary workers the most are recruiting, marketing and Waymo, Google’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary. Internally, these employees are referred to as “TVC” or “time, salesmen and contractors”, and many do not even have health insurance.

Although the United States does not have equal pay protections for temporary workers, an anonymous whistleblower represented by Whistleblower Aid is lashing out at Google through the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Google could be missing something like $ 100 million of international pay equity liabilities in its quarterly financial reports, which would be a violation of U.S. securities law. The Guardian also has a statement from John Tye, founder and chief disclosure officer of Whistleblower Aid:

The disclosure makes it clear that Google not only broke labor laws around the world, but misled investors about key legal and financial responsibilities. The legal and anonymous disclosure of whistleblowers is an essential step in ensuring that Google is held to account. We urge the SEC to take enforcement action against Google and protect the rights of investors to receive full and accurate information.

The report says an internal audit of Google employees showed the company had more than 1,000 temporary workers in countries with pay equity laws. Thanks to the “temporary” nature of temporary workers, however, the number of wage theft victims over two years would be much higher than a single-day snapshot would show. An internal memo indicated that affected employees were paid 12% and 50% less than they should have been.

According to the report, Google’s “extended workforce” team in charge of hiring temporary workers was debating what to do to underpay employees, and the team’s main concerns were Google’s reputation rather than caring for employees. The report quotes Compliance Officer Alan Barry who wrote: “If and when [temps] realize [that they are being underpaid,] they will seek redress but will want to avoid litigation. The strategy must therefore be guided by an assessment of the risk of public relations / internal reputation and of the risk that salary disparities are known within our temporary population.

Well, now they know.