Google to offer gay staff extra pay to allow for tax inequality with straight couples

Internet giant Google today began paying its gay staff more than heterosexual employees in the latest example of its lavish perks culture, reports The Daily Mail.

Lesbian and homosexual staff will get extra wages to make up for higher taxes they have to pay.

The search engine decided it was only fair to bump up the salaries of its gay staff, a spokesman said.

Under U.S. law, when a firm offers health insurance as a benefit for an employee’s partner, it is tax-free for married couples but taxable income for  gays.

Google will make up the difference in additional pay, on average $980 a year.

Gaygler: A Gay Googler

Did you know? A Gaygler is Google’s term for an LGBT Google employee. According to Gawker, employees have “-oogler” terms for just about anything; a Noogler is a new Google employee and a Loogler is a employee in the legal department.

From karaoke at a gay bar, to company presence at pride parades with t-shirts that read “I’m feeling proud” and “We are here” (pictured), Gayglers have their own logo and recruitment page.

Read Google’s official blog post »

(Photo credits: ohwhatachristy, eyespy-briany, firstwavedown)

Vodafone Suspends Employee After Obscene Homophobic Tweet

With 8,824 followers, Vodafone UK’s Twitter account tweeted “VodafoneUK is fed up of dirty homo’s and is going after beaver.” After hundreds of people retweeted and replied to the tweet, Vodafone began apologizing to users individually, and then tweeted a public apology saying that the individual who had posted the tweet had been suspended.

Read the full story at guardian.co.uk »

(via Rob Coe on Equaldex’s Facebook)