Those "levels" end up being oddly sexist at times. For instance, one of the women who sued Google for wage discrimination (Kelli Wisuri) was hired at L2, while male hires with similar or lesser experience were hired directly into L3 or above. And she and most of the women in her team were placed in a non-commission role, while working with men who gained commission on top of their salary.

Source, page 11 of https://googlegendercase.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Elli...