LinkedIn Agrees to $1.8M Settlement for Allegedly Paying Women Less Than Men
The money will go toward back wages and interest for the affected workers.
The US Department of Labor sued LinkedIn for pay discrimination that allegedly took place from 2015 to 2017.
LinkedIn and the US Department of Labor have settled allegations that the business-networking social media company failed to pay its male and female workers equally, the department said Tuesday.
LinkedIn is required to pay the affected employees $1.8 million in back wages and interest, hold compliance training and evaluate its pay equity over the next three years.
"Our agreement with LinkedIn Corp. resolves alleged pay discrimination that denied 686 female workers at the company's San Francisco and Sunnyvale locations their full wages," said Jane Suhr, regional director for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs in San Francisco.
The complaint stems from a routine OFCCP compliance investigation that found LinkedIn in violation of Executive Order 11246, an equal opportunity employment directive signed in 1965. Between March 1, 2015, and March 1, 2017, LinkedIn allegedly paid some female employees unequally with male employees.
In a statement on Monday, LinkedIn said it agreed to settle the matter but denied that it paid employees unequally.
"In 2021 we conducted an 'equal pay analysis' and found that globally, for every $1.00 earned by men, our female employees earn $0.999. In the US, our employees of color earn $1.00 for every $1.00 earned by our white employees," LinkedIn said.
Last year, the OFCCP settled a compensation and hiring discrimination suit with Google requiring the company to pay more than $3.8 million.