LinkedIn professional networking service has agreed to pay $ 1.8 million in back wages to nearly 700 workers to resolve a wage discrimination complaint filed by U.S. labor investigators.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with LinkedIn to resolve allegations of “systemic and gender-based wage discrimination” in which women were paid less than men in comparable jobs.
The agreement affects women who worked in engineering, product, or marketing positions from 2015 to 2017 at the company’s offices in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, California. It includes the time before and after the acquisition of LinkedIn for $ 26.2 billion in 2016.
LinkedIn has denied wage discrimination and argued that its statistical models did not identify wage disparities, according to the agreement.
“Although we have agreed to resolve this issue, we do not agree with the government’s claims,” LinkedIn said in a statement on Monday. “LinkedIn pays and has paid its employees fairly and equitably when comparing similar jobs.”
LinkedIn officials said they conducted a payroll survey last year that found the company was paying employees $ 0.99 for every $ 1 earned by a male employee. In the U.S., color employees earn the same pay as white employees, LinkedIn said.
The Labor Department said its own analysis found significant wage disparities even after controlling for “legitimate explanatory factors”.
The agency said the case was sparked by a routine evaluation by its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Federal laws prohibit discriminatory practices against companies that contract with the federal government, as does LinkedIn.
Of the $ 1.8 million, LinkedIn will donate:
- $ 719,592 in arrears for women working in engineering at Sunnyvale plus $ 13,120 in interest.
- $ 370,974 in back pay for women working in the Sunnyvale product division plus $ 13,120 in interest.
- $ 232,448 in arrears for women working in engineering in San Francisco plus $ 13,120 in interest.
- $ 424,506 in arrears for women working in marketing in San Francisco plus $ 13,120 in interest.
Under the agreement, LinkedIn must also host staff trainings to prevent discriminatory practices, and the company must evaluate the salaries of its staff over the next three years to ensure that they are gender neutral.
These steps will help ensure that “LinkedIn better understands its obligations as a federal contractor and fulfills it in the future,” Jane Suhr, regional director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, said in a statement.
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