MICHAEL LIEDTKE

Associated PressJanuary 5, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. Labor Department is trying to bar Google from doing business with the federal government unless the internet company turns over confidential information about thousands of its employees.

The potential banishment is being sought in a Labor Department lawsuit filed Wednesday with the Office of Administrative Law Judges.

The complaint alleges that Google has repeatedly refused to provide the Labor Department with employee compensation records and other information as part of an audit designed to ensure the company isn't discriminating against workers based on gender or race.

The review of how Google pays the thousands of workers at its Mountain View, California, headquarters is allowed under decades-old laws regulating U.S. government contractors.

Google has struck a series of deals with various federal government agencies during the past decade, including a digital advertising agreement cited by the Labor Department that has generated more than $600,000 for the company since June 2014, according to the complaint. That amount is a pittance for Google, whose revenue has surpassed $130 billion during the same span.

If Google doesn't comply with all its demands, the Labor Department wants a legal order that would void all of the company's current federal government contracts and block future deals.

In a statement, Google said it has provided hundreds of thousands of records in an attempt to comply with the Labor Department's requests, but has rebuffed some of the agency's demands as "overbroad" and an invasion of employee privacy.

Like most other big technology companies