Lawsuit alleges YouTube hiring practices discriminated against white and Asian men
A former recruiter claims he fired because he complained about the hiring practices.
A former YouTube recruiter is filing a lawsuit claiming that the tech company discriminated against white and Asian men in its hiring practices.
A former YouTube recruiter is filing a lawsuit claiming that the tech company discriminated against white and Asian men in its hiring practices.
The recruiter, Arne Wilberg, claimed that he was fired in November 2017 because he complained about the hiring practices, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“For the past several years, Google has had and implemented clear and irrefutable policies, memorialized in writing and consistently implemented in practice, of systematically discriminating in favor [of] job applicants who are Hispanic, African American, or female, and against Caucasian and Asian men,” the lawsuit claimed.
The suit continued: “These policies were reflected in multiple bulletins, memorandum, charts, and other documents prepared by Google’s highest-level managers, and approved by Google’s C-level officers and directors.”
Wilberg claimed that YouTube circulated an internal document telling recruiters to hire only diverse candidates for three months during 2017. The suit also pointed to an internal hiring recap that was sent out on a weekly basis comparing hiring numbers by identity to its internal goals.
What’s more, Wilberg pointed to an email from YouTube staffing manager Allison Alogna which read: “Hi Team: Please continue with L3 candidates in process and only accept new L3 candidates that are from historically underrepresented groups.”
L3 candidates have between zero and five years of experience.
Wilberg claimed that he and other recruiters were uncomfortable with the hiring practice and even claimed that recruiters felt senior managers were talking about African-American employees like “we were talking about Black slaves as slave traders on a ship.”
What’s more, Wilberg claimed that after he complained, the race-based policies continued, but Google told recruiters to delete references to tracking based on identity.
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“Google’s Staffing Team continued with Google’s illegal hiring policies, but stopped tracking and engaged in an effort to delete all the evidence of the preferences given to women and minorities in Google’s hiring practices,” the suit claimed.
Google responds
Google said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal that the lawsuit had no merit and that no quotas were being used.
“We have a clear policy to hire candidates based on their merit, not their identity,” a spokeswoman said. “At the same time, we unapologetically try to find a diverse pool of qualified candidates for open roles, as this helps us hire the best people, improve our culture, and build better products.”
Internal issues
In January 2018, former Google employee James Damore was fired for a lengthy memo in which he suggested that women were not biologically capable of working in the tech industry. The memo, which went viral, argued that Google was an “echo chamber” of liberal ideas.
After his dismissal, Damore sued Google for discriminating against politically conservative white men.Former Google engineer David Gudeman also filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of conservative white men against Google.
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