SAN FRANCISCO — Local plaintiffs firm Altshuler Berzon is gathering kindling for a potential class action against Google Inc., with dozens of current and former female employees claiming their male counterparts made more money.

The news comes weeks after a judge told Google to hand over more data for a U.S. Department of Labor audit that invoked the specter of gender pay discrimination, and just days after an internal, employee-written memo gained notoriety for its denouncement of Google's “arbitrary” approach to gender diversity.

James Finberg, who is representing the former and current Google employees in the potential suit, said in a phone interview Wednesday that he first gained interest in Google's internal issues during the company's fight with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, a workplace discrimination auditing arm of the Labor Department.