[mbrumlow]

Engineers at google can make way over 200k in salary and even more in total compensation. Given these guys were over 40, and many of them likely seasoned it is likely they would have made way more than the numbers you are suggesting.

[jaclaz]

I don't doubt that, it was just an attempt to put the numbers in pespective, if you believe that it is only 1 month or 15 days of wage it is ok as well, but what was the actual inconvenience to them?

Let's bring it to the extreme, 35,000 US$ for the hassle of making four (fruitless) interviews?

[mbrumlow]

The point of the payout is not really for the people who did not get a job -- its just a good place to put the money. These lawsuits are actually to punish the companies so they change their ways. 11m as pointed out is a rounding error for google. I would be surprised zero happens at google related to age determination as a result of this lawsuit.

Had the lawsuit resulted in 1B -- something significant -- I can assure you that something would change in the way they handle older applicants.

[onemoresoop]

It's very demoralizing to be realize nobody wants to hire you because you're over a certain age. So this is not about the inconvenience of wasting time with the interview but more generally about age discrimination.

[jaclaz]

I perfectly understand the issue, I work (I might say worked) in a field where - for completely different reasons - the work opportunities are scarce to non existant for senior people, but the question was more about how the sum was quantified.

Being the target of discrimination (be it age, sex, race, religion, whatever) is a terrible experience, but it is not easy to determine the amount of a monetary compensation.

As the parent noted, the $11 M are a rounding error to google, still the amount each person received should not be excessive because google is so big.

I mean, let's say that in an alternate world the amount would be calculated on the gross profits of google and the total amount had been US$ 110 Millions instead (still peanuts).

Would have it been "fair" that each refused applicant got 350,000 US$? (a couple years wage)

Or 3,500,000 each (more like 20 years) would have been adequate?

[onemoresoop]

I don't have an opinion about the compensation, some could argue that it is or it isn't excessive. My understanding is that the wealthier the company the less likely they are to change their bad practices when fined a small amount compared to their size.

[onemoresoop]

Here's an interesting story, somehow related to the size of the fine vs. the wealth of the person given the fine, though this is in Finland and about a speeding ticket.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/finland...