Disclaimer: I work for Google

I assume you're talking about when the Department of Labor asked for more information on employees? If so, I don't believe they actually found any gender pay gap; they were merely asking for more data which Google refused to give up due to privacy concerns.

The judge ruled in Google's favor so it's hardly "hot water" (https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/16/judge-sides-with-google-in...)

> The Department of Labor’s increasingly heated dispute with Google over a gender pay gap began, innocently enough, with a routine audit.

> During the audit, however, the agency found “systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce,” according to testimony from a DoL official.

> The lawsuit was about accessing data, not the merits of the DoL’s arguments, she says, pointing out that the government has yet to present its case.

https://www.wired.com/story/google-department-of-labor-gende...

I stand corrected. Thank you for pointing that out!

How is this a PR win? I don't think any company would love victory like this, not ever.

It's not a PR win, but it's a mitigated loss. They may have thought by not firing him they were endorsing his opinion, especially when many people were calling for him to be fired.

I'm personally entertaining the possibility that for Google to engage in a proper response would require it to admit to certain illegal positive discrimination practices.