Snapchat Inc. must pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the California Civil Rights Office accusing the corporate of discriminating against female employees, failing to stop sexual harassment within the workplace and retaliating against women who filed complaints.
The settlement with Snapchat Inc., which owns the favored disappearing message app of the identical name, affects women who worked for the corporate in California between 2014 and 2024. The California Department of Civil Rights announced this on Wednesday. The settlement still requires court approval.
The agreement ends an investigation lasting greater than three years into allegations that the Santa Monica, California-based company had discriminated against female employees in pay and promotions, the agency said in a press release.
The majority of the settlement amount will go to employees who were subjected to discrimination at Snapchat Inc., California authorities said.
“In California, we are proud of the work of our state’s innovators, who are a driving force of our national economy,” said Kevin Kish, director of the California Civil Rights Office. “This settlement with Snapchat shows a shared commitment to a California where all workers have a fair shot at the American dream. Women are entitled to equal rights in every job, in every workplace, in every industry.”
Snapchat Inc. said it disagreed with the agency’s allegations but decided to settle to avoid a costly and lengthy legal battle.
“Our commitment to maintaining a fair and inclusive environment at Snap is very important to us, and we do not believe we have any ongoing issues of systemic pay equity, discrimination, harassment or retaliation against women,” the corporate said in a press release.
Snapchat Inc.’s worker base grew from 250 in 2015 to greater than 5,000 in 2022. But the expansion didn’t translate into advancement opportunities for female employees. “They were told to wait their turn, actively discouraged from applying for promotions, or lost advancement opportunities to less qualified male colleagues,” California officials said.
In particular, women in engineering jobs, who make up about 70 percent of Snap’s workforce, encountered barriers as they tried to advance from entry-level positions, the criticism said.
The California Civil Rights Office also said in its lawsuit that girls were sexually harassed and that in the event that they spoke up they faced retaliation, including negative performance reviews and termination. Male supervisors often promoted male employees over higher qualified women, the office said.
“The women were told, both implicitly and explicitly, that they were second-class citizens at Snap,” the agency said within the lawsuit.
The settlement requires the corporate to rent an independent consultant to review its compensation and promotion policies and to rent an outdoor auditor to review its sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination policies. The company must also train its employees to stop discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment within the workplace, officials said.
Snapchat Inc. has also agreed to tell all employees of their right to report harassment or discrimination without fear of retaliation.
