Google Legally Fired Diversity Memo Author, Labor Agency Says

SAN FRANCISCO — Google did not break the law when it fired an engineer who wrote a memo critical of the company’s diversity efforts, a lawyer for a federal labor agency said.

Last year, James Damore, a little-known engineer on Google’s search infrastructure team, incited outrage at the company and across Silicon Valley for making an argument that seemed to rationalize the pay and opportunity gap between genders at technology companies.

Before he was fired by Google, Mr. Damore filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board saying that the company had violated his right to engage in concerted activity to address a workplace problem.

But Jayme L. Sophir, an associate general counsel at the labor agency, said that Google’s actions were acceptable because they made clear that Mr. Damore was being fired for comments that advanced stereotypes — not for speaking out about the company.

The decision was published on Jan. 16 but was not made public until Thursday.

Google made clear that Mr. Damore had violated its policies on harassment and discrimination when he argued, for example, that women were more prone to “neuroticism,” meaning that they exhibited higher anxiety and a lower tolerance for stress, the labor agency said.

SOURCE :- nytimes