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Employees at a firm contracted to Google have accused bosses of systematically skimming their wages, after being underpaid by thousands of dollars.
A report in tech publication The Verge cites the allegations of workers at Artech (a firm subcontracted by Accenture, to which Google outsources its Help Center), who claim they were paid less than the amount they were signed up on.
One such employee, Guy Mylius, said he was paid $20 an hour, but that bosses has told seniors at Google he was earning more than $30 an hour. He estimated that, over the course of his six month contract, he would be owed more than $10,000.
“This seems to be a pattern,” Mylius told the publication. “It’s not just that this was an error on my paycheck. I’ve personally talked to five or six people who are at Accenture who have had the same experience.”
"Artech denies the allegations in their entirety,” the firm’s spokesperson told The Verge, adding: “With respect to Artech’s contractual terms with its client, that is a confidential matter between Artech and Accenture.”
The Verge reported that, shortly contacting the firm for comment, Mylius received his back pay in full from the company.
Accenture said it was investigating the claims to ensure all employees were properly paid. “We are committed to ensuring our service providers are paying their people working for Accenture in alignment with our requirements”, their spokesperson Stacey Jones said.
Laura Greene was another worker who spotted irregularities in her pay checks. Having accepted a lowly $25 per hour to work in the notoriously expensive Bay Area of San Francisco, she would later discover her pay was listed as $29 per hour. She said it was only upon forcing the issue with HR that anything was done to resolve the matter.
“I legitimately think that they are skimming off the top,” she said.
“They are not expecting people to find out, and for the few people that do find out, they just pay it and make it go away.”
In a statement, Google said: “We take our supplier relations seriously, and they must adhere to Google’s Supplier Code of Conduct.
“Our suppliers manage their employees and the terms of their employment directly, including wages. If a supplier decides to subcontract work through another company, our policies still apply.”
