The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) has entered into a $15,000,000 proposed settlement agreement with Snap Inc. — parent company of the Snapchat social media platform — over alleged discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against women at the company. The settlement impacts women who were employees at the company in California between 2014 and 2024. 

The settlement resolves a more than three-year investigation into Snap Inc. over claims of employment discrimination, equal pay violations, and sexual harassment and retaliation. Rapid growth of the Santa Monica based company (Snap’s employee count went from 250 in 2015 to over 5,000 in 2022) is alleged to have contributed to the organization’s failure to adapt and implement policies/procedures to ensure that women within the organization were paid or promoted equally.  

During the company’s period of rapid growth women encountered a glass ceiling and were told to wait their turn, were actively discouraged from applying for promotions, or lost promotion opportunities to less qualified male colleagues. Specifically, women were told, both implicitly and explicitly, that they were second class citizens at Snap. It is also alleged that women suffered unwelcome sexual advances and other harassing conduct. According to court records, when women spoke up, they allegedly faced retaliation, including in the form of the denial of professional opportunities, negative performance reviews, and termination. 

In short, Snap’s alleged failures are a playbook for how not to grow your business or lower your organization’s liability when it comes to the risks associated with unlawful pay practices. Ignoring or downplaying the importance of human resources-related input into the growth process of any organization is a recipe for risk.  

If approved by the court, the settlement will require Snap Inc. to: 

• Pay $15 million to cover direct relief to workers and litigation costs ($14.5 million is dedicated to compensating workers). 

• Retain an independent consultant to evaluate and make recommendations regarding compensation and promotion policies and training materials. 

• Ensure that future contracts with staffing agencies require compliance with state protections against workplace discrimination and harassment.i 

• Recognize the employer’s obligation to not discriminate against or harass employees based on sex and comply with all federal/state anti-discrimination laws. 

• Contract with a third-party monitor to audit sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination compliance and make appropriate recommendations. 

• Ensure staff complete training on the prevention of discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment in the workplace. 

• Provide information to all employees regarding their right to complain of any harassment or discrimination without fear of retaliation. 

What Does it Mean? 

The Snap settlement highlights CRD’s commitment to the enforcement of California’s pay transparency laws. It is also worth noting that many of the remedial measures sought by the CRD expand existing pay transparency laws. As a result, employers should note the following key expansions as harbingers of possible future change:  

• Requirement to disclose to job applicants when compensation is negotiable (within pay range boundaries).  

• Extending current prohibitions on salary history to include internal promotional decisions.