Latest news with #StephenLam
The Star
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Google settles Black employees' racial bias lawsuit for $50 million
FILE PHOTO: A Google logo is seen at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., November 1, 2018. REUTERS/ Stephen Lam/File Photo (Reuters) - Google agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the search engine company of systemic racial bias against Black employees. A preliminary settlement covering more than 4,000 Google employees in California and New York was filed on Thursday evening in the Oakland, California federal court, and requires a judge's approval. Plaintiffs in the proposed class action said Google has a "racially biased corporate culture" where management steers Blacks to lower-level jobs, pays them less, downgrades their performance ratings and denies them opportunities to advance. According to the complaint, Black employees comprised only 4.4% of Google's workforce and 3% of its leadership in 2021. The plaintiff April Curley, hired to expand outreach to historically Black colleges, said Google denied her promotions, stereotyped her as an "angry" Black woman, and fired her after six years as she prepared a report on its alleged racial bias. Managers also allegedly denigrated Black employees by declaring they were not "Googley" enough or lacked "Googleyness," which the plaintiffs called racial dog whistles. Google, a unit of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet, denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle, and said it fully complied with all applicable laws. It had no immediate additional comment on Friday. The lawsuit began in March 2022 after a regulator now known as the California Civil Rights Department started investigating Google's treatment of Black female employees. Lawyers for the plaintiffs may seek up to $12.5 million of the settlement fund in fees. On Monday, the lawyers dismissed related claims brought on behalf of job applicants, citing evidence they had gathered and Google's "reasoned arguments." The case is Curley et al v Google LLC, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-01735. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
The Star
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Italy's Moltiply sues Google in 3 billion euro lawsuit over market dominance
FILE PHOTO: A Google logo is seen at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., November 1, 2018. REUTERS/ Stephen Lam/File Photo MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's Moltiply Group said on Friday it was suing Alphabet's Google and seeking damages of 2.97 billion euros ($3.34 billion) for abuse of its dominant market position as previously recognised by the EU Court of Justice. Moltiply operates the popular Italian price comparison website Its claim argues that Google's actions hindered the growth of its subsidiary 7Pixel between 2010 and 2017, favouring Google Shopping instead, Moltiply said in a statement. The claim was filed at a Milan court, Italian daily Corriere della Sera said without giving further details. "We disagree strongly with these exorbitant private damages claims which disregard this successful and growing industry," a spokesperson for Google said in a statement in response to a Reuters request for comment. The European Commission fined Google, the world's most popular internet search engine, in 2017 for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals. In September, the company lost a final appeal against the 2.42 billion euro fine. "The changes Google made in 2017 following the European Commission's decision are working as intended and the number of comparison shopping sites in Europe using our shopping features has multiplied from just 7 to more than 1,550", the Google spokesperson added. ($1 = 0.8894 euros) (Reporting by Sara Rossi, Elvira Pollina, editing by Alvise Armellini, Kirsten Donovan)
The Star
05-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Trump orders the reopening of Alcatraz prison
FILE PHOTO: Alcatraz Island is seen in San Francisco Bay in San Francisco, California, U.S., October 5, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Lam/File Photo SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was directing the Federal Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison in the San Francisco Bay to "house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders." "REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!" he posted on the Truth Social platform. "When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm." The federal prison at Alcatraz housed notorious U.S. criminals such as Al Capone before it closed in 1963. It is now one of San Francisco's most popular tourist destinations. "Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ," Trump wrote. Trump told reporters as he returned to the White House from Florida, that reopening the prison was "Just an idea I've had" and decided to act on. "It's a symbol of law and order," he said. Alcatraz was billed as America's most secure prison given the island location, frigid waters and strong currents. No successful escapes were ever officially recorded from Alcatraz, though five prisoners are listed as "missing and presumed drowned." Alcatraz was closed because it was too expensive to continue operating, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website, in large part due to its island location. It was nearly three times more costly to operate than any other federal prison, the BOP website said. Nancy Pelosi, former House speaker and Democratic lawmaker from California, downplayed the Republican President's plan. "Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than sixty years ago. It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The President's proposal is not a serious one," she said in a post on X. (Reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Diane Craft, Jacqueline Wong and Lincoln Feast)
