Mastercard has agreed to pay $26 million to settle a proposed class action on behalf of about 7,500 employees who alleged the card network underpaid Black, Hispanic and female workers.
The settlement also requires the company to conduct annual pay audits with the assistance of an outside consulting firm for three years. In addition, Mastercard must also hire a psychologist “to evaluate its career ecosystem for bias,” according to a Tuesday press release from Outten & Golden, the law firm that represented the workers.
“The non-monetary terms of the settlement will help ensure that Mastercard maintains an equitable workplace for the thousands of women and people of color it employs,” Outten & Golden Partner Cara Greene, the lawyer who was lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in the release. “Settlements like this help to level the playing field and move the entire industry closer to pay equity.”
Purchase, New York-based Mastercard, the second-largest U.S. card network, “disputed the allegations and did not admit to wrongdoing as part of the settlement,” according to the release.
“We strongly deny the allegations in this litigation and believe it is in the best interest of all involved to bring this matter to a close,” a Mastercard spokesperson said by email. “That allows our teams to place their focus on what’s important to them, so together we can ensure Mastercard continues to be a place where the best want to work and grow.”
The employees covered by the settlement were in mid-level positions at the company, the Mastercard spokesperson said. For instance, one of the named plaintiffs is Deborah Hayman. A person with that name worked at Mastercard as a strategic partnerships manager in consumer marketing in San Francisco from 2019 to 2021, according to LinkedIn.
The employees worked for Mastercard starting as far back as September 2016, but the work timeframe for individuals covered by the settlement varies by state, according to the lawsuit. It wasn’t clear whether any of the plaintiffs are still employed at the company, the release said.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, even though the two sides had already reached the agreement, according to the release. The Mastercard spokesperson declined to comment on why that was the case, and spokesperson for the plaintiffs didn’t immediately elaborate on that issue. The agreement is still subject to court approval.
