Google To Pay Gay Employees Extra To Compensate For Tax Inequalities

July 21, 2010

Gay and Lesbian workers are set for a salary increase to make up for a tax they are required to pay, unlike their heterosexual co-workers.

Google, known for its worker friendly approach Google is set to increase the salaries of gay and lesbian employees whose partners receive domestic partner health benefits, to compensate them for an extra tax they must pay that heterosexual married couples do not.

A gay employee pointed out that LGBT employees with domestic partners pay a minimum of $1,069 extra a year in tax, effectively reducing their salaries.

Laszlo Bock, Google’s vice president for people operations, said: “We said, ‘You’re right, that doesn’t seem fair,’ so we looked into it. From that initial suggestion, we said, let’s take a look at all the benefits we offer and see if we are being truly fair across the board.”

Google’s pay increase for gay employees, despite not being the first company to do so, has been branded ‘cutting edge’ and could potentially set the ball in motion among it’s competitors to do the same as they are to compete for the same talent.

Google is company known for looking after their workers, as can be seen in a number of fringe benefits such as free food, free laundry, on duty doctor at the company headquarters and 5 months fully paid maternity leave.