Microsoft's LinkedIn social network has agreed to settle allegations it systematically underpaid women in engineering, product, and marketing roles.
The US Department of Labor (DoL) on Tuesday announced the settlement on behalf of 686 female workers in California. The government said an evaluation conducted by DoL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found that between March 1, 2015, though March 1, 2017, LinkedIn failed to provide equal pay for women in its San Francisco and Sunnyvale, California, offices.
Specifically, LinkedIn was accused of violating Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contracts from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin. EO 11246 dates back to the Johnson administration in 1965 and has been amended since then. The enforcement action also reflects Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974.