Google is still resisting requests for providing salary data to the United States Department of Labor (DOL) that previously accused the company of gender pay discrimination. Representatives of the Mountain View, California-based tech giant on Friday told a federal court that complying with the DOL’s latest request would cost the firm approximately $100,000 and 500 working hours, implying that the federal agency’s request is too expensive and logistically demanding to be carried out in an efficient manner. The DOL previously claimed that the data it’s requesting from Google will help it prove that the Alphabet-owned company is systematically discriminating against its female employees by underpaying them relative to how much their male colleagues are earning.
The latest turn of events is yet another milestone in the months-long dispute between Google and the DOL, the latter of whom sued the Silicon Valley giant in January after Google refused to provide it with comprehensive employee data as part of its mandatory compliance review. The Mountain View Internet company is subject to reviews by the DOL due to its status of a government contractor that forbids the company from discriminating against its employees in any form, intentionally or not. The federal agency now mocked Google’s latest defense, with its legal representative Ian Eliasoph pointing out that Google is one of the most profitable companies in the country and shouldn’t have any issues with devoting $100,000 to comply with the DOL’s data request.
Google previously denied all allegations of gender pay discrimination, repeatedly claiming that the company is committed to having an equal and diversified workforce. One of the Internet giant’s representatives on Friday said that the firm already spent 2,300 working hours and close to $500,000 to comply with a portion of the DOL’s request that it labeled as “unconstitutional,” adding that the San Francisco-based federal court should stop the agency’s “abuse of power” in this case. Google is currently being pressured to provide employee data that precedes its 2015 salary snapshot which is said to hint at some “systemic compensation disparities” across positions, as the DOL previously put it. An update on the situation is expected to follow in the coming months.