Oracle routinely and systematically pays its white male workers more than women and minorities in the same positions, as well as discriminates against non-Asian applicants in its recruiting process, according to a lawsuit announced Wednesday by the US Department of Labor.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleges that the Bay Area tech giant paid women, African Americans and Asians less than their white male counterparts holding the same job titles. It also claims Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) systematically favors Asians in its recruiting and hiring for product development and other technical jobs, discriminating against non-Asian applicants in the process.
Oracle denied the allegations. "The complaint is politically motivated, based on false allegations, and wholly without merit," a spokeswoman said in a statement. "Oracle values diversity and inclusion, and is a responsible equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Our hiring and pay decisions are non-discriminatory and made based on legitimate business factors including experience and merit.”
Women in Comms is kicking off a bigger and better 2017! Visit WiC Online and get in touch to learn how you can join us.
There's been a big push for more transparency around hiring practices, pay and diversity at tech companies. Many companies have been sharing their diversity statistics on their own volition in recent years. For its part, Oracle promotes a commitment to diversity on its website, but only shares a high-level breakdown of its diversity statistics, including that it is made up of 37% minorities and 29% females. Thirty-four percent of its managers are minorities, and 25% are female. (See A Vast Valley: Tech's Inexcusable Gender Gap.)
The US Department of Labor lawsuit says that Oracle refused to "comply with routine requests for employment data and records" and refused to provide prior-year compensation data for its employees, hiring data for certain business units and employee complaints of discrimination. It has been investigating the company for two years and pushing it to provide this documentation for the past year.
As a federal contractor, Oracle is not allowed to partake in any kind of employment discrimination for its employees or those it's seeking to hire. The suit is seeking compensation for lost pay and benefits for those affected, as well as to force Oracle to end these discriminatory practices. It suggests Oracle may lose millions in federal contracts if it doesn't change its ways.
This lawsuit, the result of a regular compliance review by the government, comes shortly after the Department of Labor also filed suit against Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) for failing to provide similar data in its review. The suit against Google, however, doesn't claim any wrongdoing or discrimination in its employment practices. Google said it pushed back on turning over the private information of its employees.
— Sarah Thomas,

, Director, Women in Comms