In a stunning development that adds fuel to the debate over diversity in Silicon Valley, Google has agreed to pay $50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging systemic racial discrimination against Black employees. The preliminary agreement, filed Thursday in federal court in Oakland, California, is subject to judicial approval and spans over 4,000 current and former Black Google workers in California and New York.
The case shines a harsh spotlight on what plaintiffs describe as a racially biased corporate culture, where Black employees were marginalized, underpaid, and denied advancement—all while being judged by ambiguous standards like “Googleyness.”
“Not Googley Enough”: The Dog Whistle That Sparked a Legal Firestorm
At the heart of the complaint is April Curley, a former diversity recruiter who was hired to expand Google’s outreach to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Curley alleges she was repeatedly denied promotions, racially stereotyped, and ultimately terminated in retaliation for preparing a report exposing internal bias.
She was allegedly labeled an “angry Black woman” by superiors and told she lacked “Googleyness”—a term plaintiffs argue was used as a racial dog whistle to mask discriminatory practices.
“Google’s corporate gloss couldn’t hide its discriminatory core,” said a legal source close to the case. “This was about structural bias masquerading as performance metrics.”
