Google is in a whale of trouble over a new class-action lawsuit over grounds of alleged gender pay disparity.

As per an Engadget report, four women, all ex-Google employees, have now won class-action status for their lawsuit against the company. A San Francisco state judge certified the class action, allowing the four women to sue Google as a collective, rather than having separate cases with the same allegation. The four plaintiffs represent a group of 10,800 women who have held several different positions at various capacities at Google since 2013.

The allegation is quite straightforward here: the women claim that Google pays men more for doing the same job and also promotes women employees slower and far less frequently. As per a report by Bloomberg, the plaintiffs seek damages worth up to $600 million, alleging that Google has violated California’s Equal Pay Act.

The plaintiffs in an earlier court filing state that female employees earn approximately $16,800 less annually than “the similarly-situated man” at Google.

The lawsuit also goes after Google of violating California’s Unfair Competition Law. The company allegedly asked job candidates for previous salary information, perpetuating gender pay disparity. Google did apparently end this practice in 2017 and thus wanted to have the case dismissed, but a judge had the request denied back in 2018.

This isn't the first time we're hearing about Google undergo a legal hairdryer. As recently as February 2021, Google agreed to pay over $2.5 million to settle Department of Labor allegations. It reportedly underpaid thousands of female workers across various positions.

It is now facing yet another lawsuit on similar grounds with damages worth much much more than the measly settlement paid to the Department of Labour.

Google, meanwhile, has denied the allegations stating that the company employs regular conducts analysis to ensure that there’s no gender-based wage inequality of employees. “If we find any differences in proposed pay, including between men and women, we make upward adjustments to remove them before new compensation goes into effect,” a Google statement read.