Oracle Corp sued for allegedly underpaying women, minorities

One of the largest anti-discrimination case was heard before a judge of the United States court. A tech company in the US is accused of paying its women and minority employees less than what it paid to its white employees. Oracle Corporations, an American multinational computer software company founded by billionaire Larry Ellison, allegedly paid its female and minority tech workers less than its other employees. 

Lawsuit for underpaying women and minorities

Around 21 current and former Oracle employees will appear before the Labor Department to testify about the statistical claims that the company violated equal opportunity statutes governing federal contractors. The Department of Labor made its case on Thursday that Oracle has underpaid its women, Asians, and black employees by $401 million over the course of four years. 

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According to the Labor Department, Oracle paid 20 per cent less to its women employees that what it paid to its male employees. The hearing is taking place in San Fransisco where the headquarter of the Silicon Valley giant is located. The case is very significant for other tech companies against whom are similar allegations of discriminating against their women and minority employees. Google and Palantir are the other companies facing similar allegations. 

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Kirsten Hanson Gracia, one of the witnesses who worked for Oracle for more than 16 years testified in court. Gracia said that during a meeting in the mid-2000s with top executives of the company, the head of human resources said that if you hire women they will work harder for less money. Gracia was in human resources at the time and was in the hiring process for the company. 

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If the Department of Labor wins, it plans to ask Oracle to immediately change its policies and back pay for discriminatory conduct. The agency will also ask to cancel all government contracts given to Oracle and bar it from future contracts until it complies. The case is being heard by an administrative and judge without any jury and is limited to cases occurring from 2013 to 2016 only.

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