LinkedIn settles with US Labour Department over alleged pay discrimination

LinkedIn has agreed to pay $1.8 million in back wages to hundreds of female employees. It is to resolve a pay discrimination case brought by US labor investigators.  The United States Department of Labor stated on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with LinkedIn to resolve claims of “systemic, gender-based pay discrimination”. Women received less pay than males in comparable job roles.

Nearly 700 women who worked in engineering, product, or marketing roles at the company’s San Francisco and Sunnyvale, California locations from 2015 to 2017 faced the effects of the settlement. It spans the years leading up to and following Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016.

LinkedIn said in a statement that “while we have agreed to settle this matter, we do not agree with the government’s claims; LinkedIn pays and has paid its employees fairly and equitably when comparing similar work.”

As per the settlement agreement, LinkedIn denies pay discrimination and claims that its statistical tools failed to detect wage inequalities. Even after controlling for reasonable explanatory factors, the government’s investigation discovered considerable pay discrepancies, according to the agency.

The investigation began due to a routine inspection by the agency’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, per the agency. Companies that contract with the federal government are prohibited from engaging in discriminatory practices under federal law.

Google faced a similar complaint against pay disparity last year. California’s civil rights regulator was investigating the company’s treatment of Black female workers following alleged incidents of harassment and discrimination.

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