Google Could Be Violating Labor Laws With Pay for Temp Workers (nytimes.com) 27
The company realized months ago that it could be running afoul of pay laws in a number of countries but has been slow to fix the problem, according to internal documents. From a report: In December, a group of Google managers responsible for overseeing thousands of its temporary staff members discovered the company had been underpaying some of those workers for years. The gap in so-called benchmark rates between what it paid full-time employees and temporary workers doing similar work had widened significantly, according to internal company emails and documents reviewed by The New York Times. This was especially problematic in countries with so-called pay parity laws requiring the company to pay temporary workers the same wages as full-time employees in similar positions.
But Google's lapse had gone undetected outside the company. The managers worried that fixing the shortfall by suddenly lifting hourly rates by 20 percent to 30 percent would call attention to the problem and invite negative publicity to a company already criticized for creating a two-tier work force of generously compensated full-time employees and less expensive temps and contractors who are easy to hire and fire. So Google landed on a fix that wouldn't call as much attention to the problem: It decided to apply the correct rates for only new hires starting in 2021 but held off on more expensive, wholesale changes, according to company emails reviewed by The Times.
Alan Barry, a Google compliance manager based in Ireland, wrote in an email to colleagues that adjusting the rates for all of its temps was the correct move from a "compliance perspective." However, doing so might increase the likelihood that its current temporary staff members could "connect the dots" about the reason behind the pay bump and place the staffing agencies who supply and pay the workers in "a difficult position, legally and ethically." "The cost is significant and it would give rise to a flurry of noise/frustration," Mr. Barry wrote. "I'm also not keen to invite the charge that we've allowed this situation to persist for so long that the correction required is significant."
But Google's lapse had gone undetected outside the company. The managers worried that fixing the shortfall by suddenly lifting hourly rates by 20 percent to 30 percent would call attention to the problem and invite negative publicity to a company already criticized for creating a two-tier work force of generously compensated full-time employees and less expensive temps and contractors who are easy to hire and fire. So Google landed on a fix that wouldn't call as much attention to the problem: It decided to apply the correct rates for only new hires starting in 2021 but held off on more expensive, wholesale changes, according to company emails reviewed by The Times.
Alan Barry, a Google compliance manager based in Ireland, wrote in an email to colleagues that adjusting the rates for all of its temps was the correct move from a "compliance perspective." However, doing so might increase the likelihood that its current temporary staff members could "connect the dots" about the reason behind the pay bump and place the staffing agencies who supply and pay the workers in "a difficult position, legally and ethically." "The cost is significant and it would give rise to a flurry of noise/frustration," Mr. Barry wrote. "I'm also not keen to invite the charge that we've allowed this situation to persist for so long that the correction required is significant."
staffing agencies be on the line an just fold? (Score:2)
staffing agencies be on the line an just fold? leveling the workers needed to jump to the next agencies?
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staffing agencies be on the line an just fold
That could happen in America where sub-contractors are legally at arms-length.
But many other countries don't allow that excuse. If someone works for you, you are responsible for ensuring they are paid according to the law despite any intermediaries.
Some lawyers at Google should lose their job over this. If you employ people in any country, you need to go over the employment laws very, very carefully.
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Actually it happens right here in America all the time. Check out the "prevailing wage" laws around eg. state government contracts vs sub-contractors. In my state, like most others, if a government entity awards a contract, the dollar amount is based on the prevailing wages established by the relevant labor unions, or by the NLRB. It is ASSUMED that all contractors on a given job are paying that rate regardless of if anyone is in a union or not. Guess what? In my experience (working for contractors) they al
Coverup is Worse (Score:3)
As usual, the coverup is worse than the original problem. Google making a mistake, detecting it, and correcting it isn't that big a deal. They should have just recognized the problem, adjusted all the salaries, and issued back pay for those incorrectly underpaid. It might have been expensive, but it would have been a lot cheaper than the fines, penalties, and legal fees they're likely to face now, especially now that it's documented that they knew they were doing the wrong thing.
Re:Coverup is Worse (Score:5, Informative)
You are making a common mathematical mistake.
If X is the cost of compliance and Y is the cost (fine+backpay) for non-compliance, you are saying:
if (X < Y) comply();
But that is wrong. The correct formula is:
if (X < (P*Y)) comply();
Where P is the probability of getting caught.
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fines should be K / P or more.
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At this point it's publicized, so P=1
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At this point it's publicized, so P=1
Everything has a probability of one after it happens.
It wasn't publicized when they made the decision.
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Ah, I had misconnected a couple of pieces of the timeline. Thanks!
Need to factor in the probability of enforcement (Score:3)
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In America, we don't even have the regulation that two employees doing essentially the same job need to be paid the same. If they're paid differently due to a protected class, like race or gender, then it's a big deal, but if they're paid differently for other reasons, that's fine. I'm not sure what countries have the regulations in question, but I'm guessing it's mostly western Europe.
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Western/Central europe I'd think.
I started my career at the megacorp as a staffing employee. In practice there was no difference, other than a few negligible benefits, compared to a full time employee. Same office, same equipment, same business trips, everything. Even my contract, which was nominally 6 months, renewed automatically. The only reason for all of this was to go around the headcount limitis on some departments.
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Where P is the probability of getting caught.
Given the size of the company, the number of people involved, and the number of lawsuits that they go through discovery for, the range for P would be between 1-10^-7 and 1
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But Google's lapse had gone undetected outside the company. The managers worried that fixing the shortfall by suddenly lifting hourly rates by 20 percent to 30 percent would call attention to the problem and invite negative publicity to a company already criticized for creating a two-tier work force of generously compensated full-time employees and less expensive temps and contractors who are easy to hire and fire.
It's not the expense, but the bad publicity. Money comes and goes, but publicity lives forever.
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Yes. The publicity for "we made a mistake, and we're fixing it now before we got caught" isn't a big deal, but the publicity for "we made a mistake, and when we found out, we tried to get away with it instead of fixing it" is much, much worse.
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You wouldn't know what nerds care about, you're not even a slashdot user, just some random.
Easy to fix. (Score:2)
Just take money back from the full time workers until their wages are low enough to close the gap! :)
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Just take money back from the full-time workers until their wages are low enough to close the gap! :)
Google should already be paying the minimum needed to recruit and retain their full-time workers. That's how markets work. So cutting their pay will lead to higher attrition and lower productivity.
Do no evil... (Score:2)
No one realized that "Do no evil." was an imperative...and a warning, and that 'you' are the implied subject.
Unions (Score:1)
But remember, dont (Score:2)
And, yet... (Score:1)
How's that don't be evil thing workin' out for ya?
Seriously, what happened to SillyCon Valley over the last two decades, or so? It's turned into Wall Street. Just a bunch of greedy, corporate sociopaths.