They were stuck between a rock and a hard place and chose what was less likely to effect ongoing litigation and what most people in Silicon Valley will accept. Other people were threatening to quit, they had no real choice here. This was the better of two bad decisions.
Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
11–20 of 1001 posts
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#12This is starting to be scary. Instead of government companies are acting as thought police. I think a lot of people will watch what they are saying publicly from now on.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#13Not a lawyer, but will he have a case to sue for wrongful termination? I guess without seeing the employee contract and Code of Conduct, it is hard to say.
Usually those are vague enough to where they can axe you for nearly anything no?
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#14Oopsie.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#15I haven't read the memo but I have read some summaries of it. Even before the memo was released I had a negative opinion of it. Not because someone spoke out their mind but because someone decided to just go and shout out their obviously controversial beliefs to the world expecting for his ideas to be taken seriously and for there to be no negative consequences.
If you want people to care about what you think and have to say, you need to spend time and effort cultivating a positive reputation. Otherwise you just seem like an unhinged idiot.
edit: because people seem to be misunderstanding my point or simply downvoting me because I am describing a reality which makes them uncomfortable I will simply reference Douglas Crockford and the Nodevember debacle.
If what occurred to Crockford occurred to some no name software engineer do you believe there would have been the outpouring of support and articles defending his character? No the person would have likely been fired for no good reason and had their name splashed across a bunch of tech blogs as a sexist.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#16Not a lawyer, but will he have a case to sue for wrongful termination? I guess without seeing the employee contract and Code of Conduct, it is hard to say.
They're probably ready for the lawsuit and will settle with a few millions and will get done with it.
I used to work at Google and this makes me sad. The fact that you could make fun of Larry Page in memegen was my favorite attribute of that company.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#17He's a good man. I'm sorry to hear google is such a hypocritical company. They preach "tolerance" and yet destroy those who fall out of line from their ideology. They'd make great commies. As for James, I'm sure he'll be able to find a better job. There are still a lot of people in this country with their heads on right.
I think I'm going to go as google free as possible now. What's the best alternative to Gmail?
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#18They were stuck between a rock and a hard place and chose what was less likely to effect ongoing litigation and what most people in Silicon Valley will accept. Other people were threatening to quit, they had no real choice here. This was the better of two bad decisions.
Could they not have done that before?
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#19I read the memo and didn't find it particularly persuasive; but this dismissal does further its core point. It's a bit tone deaf of Google to fire an employee concerned about groupthink.
On a related note, what does "internal memo" mean here? Did he forward this to a few coworkers who spread it or cc the whole company or what?
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#20Not a lawyer, but will he have a case to sue for wrongful termination? I guess without seeing the employee contract and Code of Conduct, it is hard to say.
Unless the Google contract departs from boilerplate California employment contracts in ways highly disadvantageous to one of the largest, most legally savvy firms in the state, it is unlikely that Google needs a documented reason to fire anybody, so long as they aren't retaliating against them for concrete protected concerted actions in labor organization or retaliating against them for defending their rights as a protected class under federal law.
Doubtless a real lawyer will come along here and clarify, but a good shorthand is: you can be fired in virtually any state in the union for expressing political opinions.