Oracle Accused of Wage Discrimination Against Women, Minorities

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A court filing by the U.S. Department of Labor accuses Oracle, a software company, of systematic discrimination against female and minority employees, resulting in those employees being shortchanged about $400 million or more in wages.

According to the complaint, Oracle regularly discriminated against women and employees of color by starting them at lower level jobs and lower pay than other employees, and by purposefully funneling them into lower-paying career paths. The lawsuit also alleges Oracle strongly preferred to hire Asian prospects who were recent college graduates—about 90 percent of the 500 university and college hires it made in the period between 2013 and 2016 were Asian. The suit claims Oracle preferred hiring visa-holding Asians because it made it easier to suppress wages.

The lawsuit originally steps from a 2014 audit conducted by the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). It accuses Oracle of being uncooperative with that investigation, and destroying records related to its hiring process while the case was in progress.

In a statement, Oracle called the lawsuit “meritless” and states it is “based on false allegations.”

Pay gap a major issue

Wage discrimination is a very real issue in today’s workforce, particularly in the tech industry. Many Silicon Valley companies have had to answer for their treatment of women and minorities. These companies also tend to face difficulties with recruiting, maintaining and promoting those demographics.

Only about 30 percent of the tech industry is female, but numerous studies have shown that more diverse teams both in terms of race and gender are more likely to result in greater creativity and better results.

For more information about the steps you should take if you become aware of any form of discrimination within your workplace, contact us today at Kardell Law Group.

By Steve Kardell | Published March 23, 2020 | Posted in Whistleblower Litigation

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