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LinkedIn reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor over allegations of systemic, gender-based pay discrimination that the regulator’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs discovered covering the period of March 1, 2015, through March 1, 2017.
The Department of Labor said the OFCCP alleged that the company—which was acquired by Microsoft during that time period, in June 2016—did not provide equal pay to 686 women in its engineering and marketing groups in San Francisco and its engineering and product groups in Sunnyvale, Calif.
LinkedIn said in a statement earlier this week, “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. In 2021, we conducted an ‘equal pay analysis’ and found that globally, for every $1 earned by men, our female employees earn $0.999. In the U.S., our employees of color earn $1 for every $1 earned by our white employees.”
Under terms of the settlement, LinkedIn agreed to:
- Pay $1.8 million in back wages and interest to the affected workers.
- Conduct a staff training program in order to ensure compliance with LinkedIn’s non-discrimination obligations.
- Evaluate over the next three years whether its compensation is gender-neutral and make salary adjustments if necessary.
- Revise its compensation policies and practices and agree to monitoring and reporting in order to ensure compliance with federal contract obligations.
OFCCP San Francisco regional director Jane Suhr said in a statement, “Our agreement with LinkedIn resolves alleged pay discrimination that denied 686 female workers at the company’s San Francisco and Sunnyvale locations their full wages. In addition to recovering $1.8 million in back wages and interest for these workers, our agreement will ensure that LinkedIn better understands its obligations as a federal contractor and complies in the future.”
