A California state judge has dismissed class action claims accusing Google of paying female employees less than men and giving them fewer opportunities for promotions, Reuters reports.
Superior Court Judge Mary Wiss in San Francisco says the lawsuit was inappropriate because it was brought on behalf of all women who worked for Google in California. She gave the plaintiffs 30 days to file a new complaint on behalf of only those women who faced pay discrimination.
The decision comes as Google faces an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor into sex bias in its pay practices. James Finberg, a lawyer for the three women who sued Google in September, says he intended to file a new complaint by early January that “makes clear that Google violates the California Equal Pay Act … by paying women less than men for substantially equal work in nearly every job classification.”
The lawsuit appeared to be the first to make sex bias claims against Google on behalf of a class of women but was only the latest instance of a major tech company being accused of discriminating against women.
