Google Inc Accused Of Violating Labor Standards

Updated on

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has been sued by a worker who is dissatisfied with the company’s treatment of him, says a report from Reuters. The worker alleges that he was not paid overtime, was classified by the company as an independent contractor in an improper manner, and was terminated when he requested that more hours be covered under his contract.

Google accused of violating labor standards

This case was filed by the worker on Wednesday in New York Federal Court, and the proceedings will be made as a collective action on behalf of other Google workers as well. The lead plaintiff in this case against Google is Jacob McPherson, who started his work with the Google Play unit in 2013 as a “site merchandiser for magazines” at $35 per hour. Even though he used to work at Google’s New York office, he was classified as a freelancer, and an outside agency used to pay him, said the lawsuit.

McPherson used to work more than 30 hours a week, but he could bill only for 30 hours. He claims that no payment was made to him by Google for the extra hours put in by him, nor was he paid any overtime over 40 hours a week. He asked for more hours to be covered under his contract, and Google allegedly terminated his contract after this.

Lawsuits highlight similar issues in the industry

In recent times, more attention has been drawn about the way companies classify their workers. It was ruled by a federal appeals court in San Francisco that under California law, FedEx drivers are not contractors but employees. The impact of this ruling on the broader tech sector is not very clear for now, as many tech firms, including the car hire service Uber, classify their drivers as independent contractors.

As of now, there have been no comments from Google on the matter. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York under the name Jacob McPherson vs. Google Inc et al., 14-9026.

Separately, the new antitrust commissioner of the European Union (EU) recently said that he want to limit their investigation of Google over allegations related to concerns about competition.

Leave a Comment