[rchaud]

That is not evidence of a shakedown by a corporate law firm, which is the original allegation.

Google, Apple and others have colluded to not poach employees from each other, distorting a free labor market, and settled that for $400m.[0]

[0]https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/apple-google-others-...

It's not exactly beyond the realm of possibility that individual managers at Google had discriminatory promotion practices. Google picks up the legal tab for their alleged malfeasance, because they empower managers to make those decisions.

If it is so easy to squeeze some cash out of a major company, I'd imagine Google, Apple and many others in California would be cutting checks left and right to dodge lawsuits alleging violations of the state's Equal Pay Act, which saw its last major update in 2018, enacted into law in Jan 2019.[1]

https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/california_equal_pay_act.htm