Revealed: Google illegally underpaid thousands of workers across dozens of countries

Documents show company dragged feet to correct disparity after learning it was failing to comply with laws in UK, Europe and Asia

Google has been illegally underpaying thousands of temporary workers in dozens of countries and delayed correcting the pay rates for more than two years as it attempted to cover up the problem, the Guardian can reveal.

Google executives have been aware since at least May 2019 that the company was failing to comply with local laws in the UK, Europe and Asia that mandate temporary workers be paid equal rates to full-time employees performing similar work, internal Google documents and emails reviewed by the Guardian show.