The settlement announced Monday closes a 4-year-old instance the Labor Department brought as a part its regular inspections of their pay practices at national government contractors like Google.

That question led to accusations that through an interval spanning from 2014 to 2017, Google paid female engineers significantly less than men in comparable places. The cover discrepancies were mentioned in many Google offices at its home state of California, in addition to in locations in Seattle and Kirkland, Washington.

Google had contested the allegations as unfounded prior to attaining the settlement without recognizing any wrongdoing.

“We think everyone ought to be paid based upon the job they do, not that they are, and spend heavily to create our hiring and reimbursement processes fair and impartial,” Google said Monday. The Mountain View, California, company also said that it has conducted internal audits throughout the previous decades to address any inequities in the cover of its female and male workers.

Nonetheless, the settlement will need Google to pay $1.35 million to over 2,500 of its own female engineers to compensate them for past discrimination resulting from the Labor Department. Still another $1.23 million has been allowed for at least 1,700 women and Asians who applied for technology projects at Google.

The settlement also requires Google to donate $250,000 per year for five years to make a book to cover any required adjustments still needed later on.

“Irrespective of how complicated or how big the work force, we stay dedicated to implementing equal opportunity legislation to make sure non-discrimination and equity in the work force,” explained Jane Suhr, that supervises the Labor Department’s federal contract compliance plans from San Francisco.

But information of settlement may farther blemish Google’s once-cherished standing as a company that pampers its employees to the purpose of spoiling them with cushy paychecks, free food and other lavish perks.

In the last few decades, more of Google’s own workers have been publicly blasting administration’s practices, such as allegations of coddling successful male executives that harassed female workers. More recently, tens of thousands of Google workers have protested the December death of an artificial intelligence researcher who states she was fired within a study paper which didn’t sit well with the business.

The growing unrest within Google culminated in countless workers forming a labour union in the past month, a rarity from the technology market.