Microsoft «took revenge» on employees who took paid vacation — now they will be paid more than $14 million

Microsoft will pay $14.4 million to settle a case in California over allegations of retaliation against employees who took a legally protected vacation.

The California Department of Civil Rights has already announced the proposed settlement. Subject to approval by a state judge, nearly all of the money will go to California employees who took parental, family, or disability leave from 2017 to the present and who choose to participate in the settlement.

The Department stated that «Microsoft’s challenged policies and practices have an adverse discriminatory impact based on gender and disability». The employees reported that they had concerns about retaliation after requesting legally protected leave.

According to the complaint, Microsoft is not doing enough to prevent managers from considering protected leave when evaluating an employee’s «impact». This is a factor used to calculate annual bonuses, promotions, stock awards, and merit increases. Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, employs about 6,700 people from California out of a total of 221,000.

As part of the settlement agreement, Microsoft will provide training for direct and second-level managers of full-time employees in California, as well as for human resources employees who deal with bonuses and merit increases. Managers will also be instructed to disregard protected leave when making «impact» decisions. An APTMetrics consultant will be responsible for monitoring compliance.

At the same time, it is noted that under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has sought to diversify its leadership team and has become more sensitive to issues related to harassment and discrimination. The percentage of women at the level of partners, managers and directors has increased over the years. According to the company’s latest diversity report, in 2023, women accounted for 31.2% of the workforce at Microsoft’s core company, up from 27.6% in 2019. In 2022, after a shareholder vote, Microsoft announced that it would revise its rules on sexual harassment and gender discrimination after a report by a third-party group found problems with the company’s complaint handling.

Source: nbcwashington