Social media platform Snapchat’s parent company has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) over alleged discrimination and sexual harassment of female employees at the company.
The deal covers women who worked for the company in California between 2014 and 2024.
As part of the agreement, Snap Inc. must pay $15 million to cover direct relief to workers and litigation costs, including $14.5 million to compensate workers, California’s civil rights agency said.
According to the CRD, the company underwent a period of “rapid growth,” and increased its employee count from 250 in 2015 to over 5,000 in 2022.
Women Encountered ‘Glass Ceiling’
Instead, women—particularly those in engineering roles at the company—encountered a “glass ceiling,” and were “assigned tasks below their ability level or job title,” and “told by supervisors/mentors to wait their turn when they sought promotions.”Women who worked for the company in California were also “actively discouraged from applying for promotions, and denied promotions in favor of less qualified male colleagues,” the lawsuit stated.
Female employees at the social media giant also allegedly suffered unwelcome sexual advances and other harassing conduct, the lawsuit claimed.
When they spoke up about the alleged harassment, the women faced “adverse employment actions,” including “denial of professional opportunities, negative performance reviews, forced transfers, constructive termination, and selection for reductions in forces/layoffs,” the CRD said in its legal challenge against the company.
As a result, the female employees “suffered and continue to suffer lost earnings, lost benefits, lost future employment opportunities, and other financial loss as well as non-economic damages, including but not limited to, emotional pain, humiliation, embarrassment, belittlement, sadness, and mental anguish, ” the lawsuit stated.
As well as paying out $14.5 million in compensation, Snap Inc. must hire an independent consultant to evaluate and make recommendations regarding its compensation and promotion policies and training materials, and hire a third-party monitor to audit its sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination compliance and make appropriate recommendations.
Snap Must Train Staff on Preventing Discrimination, Sexual Harassment
Additionally, Snap Inc. must train its staff on preventing discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment in the workplace, and ensure all employees are given information on their right to complain of any harassment or discrimination without fear of retaliation, CRD said.The company must also “recognize its obligation to not discriminate against or harass employees based on sex,” as well as comply with all federal and state anti-discrimination laws, among other things, according to CRD.
Under the settlement, the social media giant has “committed to taking action to help ensure the implementation of fair employment practices and provide monetary relief” to women who were employed at the company in California between 2014 and 2024, the civil rights agency said.
“This settlement with Snapchat demonstrates a shared commitment to a California where all workers have a fair chance at the American Dream,” said CRD Director Kevin Kish in a statement announcing the settlement, adding that women are “entitled to equality in every job, in every workplace, and in every industry.”
The Epoch Times has contacted a spokesperson at Snap Inc. for comment.
