Google Inc. has settled an age-bias suit in California brought by an unsuccessful job candidate who claimed in a collective action that the technology company discriminated against applicants over the age of 40.

None of the lawyers would talk about the terms of the settlement, which was reached confidentially in the case Heath v. Google, according to a Dec. 20 court filing.

Robert Heath was 60 years old when he interviewed for a third time with Google in 2011. He claimed his age was held against him as he attempted to secure a software engineer position. Heath's attorney, Dow Patten, declined to comment.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleged Google's hiring and evaluation process favors younger workers over older applicants.

Other plaintiffs on the case, represented by Kotchen & Low, have reached a conditional settlement with the company, as well, Patten said Friday. The plaintiffs who filed suit were 260 on-site candidates interviewed by more than 1,000 Google engineers around the country.

“Google claims to have a policy against age discrimination, but has offered no admissible evidence that it takes steps to enforce that policy,” Patten of Smith Patten said in a court filing in November.

Candidates for employment at Google are assessed for their “Googleyness” or culture fit. Court papers in the case said “Googleyness” includes traits such as “cares about the team, puts the user first, effectively challenges the status quo, thrives in ambiguity and values feedback.” An internal system at Google called “gHire” makes note of an applicant's overall score, an assessment of coding abilities and any experience relevant to Google.

The hiring practice at Google involves “feedback from numerous Google engineers in a multi-stage, flexible process of consensus decision making.” Employment candidates who reach an on-site interview meet with four or five engineers. Google deems only 20.5 percent of onsite job candidates to be qualified for an employment offer, according to court filings in the case.

A California federal judge had certified a collective action of job candidates who joined the lawsuit against Google.

Google was represented by a team from Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart. Attorneys Brian Berry and Thomas McInerney did not respond to request for comment.

The company has said that it has a non-discrimination policy and refuted the claims that it is biased toward younger workers.

“This is not a case of age discrimination. It is a case of a disappointed job applicant who cannot accept that his interview did not go as hoped,” Ogletree shareholder Elizabeth Falcone wrote in a court filing last month. “And, while Heath may have evidence that his interview did not run smoothly, that does not permit a jury to infer age discrimination.”

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