Microsoft Agrees to Pay $14M in Settlement After Being Accused of Retaliation Against Employees on Leave

TapTechNews July 4th news, after Microsoft was accused of retaliating against employees on sick leave and family leave by refusing to give them salary raises, promotions or stock awards, it has now agreed to pay a settlement fee of 14 million US dollars (TapTechNews note: currently about 102 million yuan).

The California Civil Rights Department previously alleged that Microsoft had retaliatory behavior against employees, and the related events can be traced back to 2017, involving employees on leave due to parenting responsibilities, disabilities, pregnancy, and family care.

The department said that women and people with disabilities were the most severely affected, resulting in lower performance evaluation scores, inhibiting their salary and promotion opportunities and damaging their careers.

Although Microsoft agreed to the settlement, it denied any illegal behavior and will hire an independent consultant to review its leave policies and provide training for managers and human resources personnel.

The spokesperson for Microsoft denied the accusations made against it:

Microsoft is committed to creating an environment where our employees can take leave when needed and providing them with the necessary flexibility and support to thrive both professionally and personally.

Kevin Kish of the Civil Rights Department said that Microsoft failed to properly take care of employees who needed to take leave. He said that the settlement agreement would provide 'direct relief' to the affected employees and help prevent discriminatory behavior by the company in the future.

It is not yet clear exactly how many employees were affected by this case, but Reuters noted that Microsoft has approximately 6,700 employees in California.