“Oracle paid women far too little for years.

Thousands of women have been systematically underpaid at Oracle. This is at the basis of a group claim that employees have filed with the court in California. More than 4,200 women participate in the case, which – if they are proved right – can be an expensive case for Oracle.

Last Friday, the case was filed in California. The accusation is that, on average, female employees were paid $13,000 less a year than men doing similar work. According to the complaint, an analysis shows an extremely large statistical inequality. On average, women received 3.8 percent less in family salary than their male colleagues in the same category, 13.2 percent less bonuses and 33.1 percent less share packages.

Less paid

The case is being brought at a time when more and more tech companies are dealing with this type of accusation. There would be discrimination on the basis of gender and ethnicity. The case against Oracle has certain similarities with a case against Google, which also had to deal with a claim for equal pay.

Women are generally paid less, says lawyer Jim Finberg to The Guardian. These are some of the strongest statistics I have ever seen – extremely powerful figures. The case includes women who have worked on product development, information technology and certain support functions. The lower payments, according to the indictment, could not be justified by different responsibilities, because the discrepancies also exist for men and women with the same work and the same achievements.

The only way this inequality can be explained is by the fact that it concerns women. This is neither justified nor legal and it is time for Oracle to change this, according to Finberg, who, incidentally, had a similar case against Google. Earlier, in 2017, Oracle had to deal with a case of the U.S. Department of Employment, which stated that the company systematically paid white male employees more than people of different origins or gender in the same positions. Oracle denied at the time and found that the accusations were unfounded.