Google Sued for Anti-Conservative Bias by Fired Engineer

The engineer who was fired by Google after he criticized its diversity policies claims in a lawsuit that he and others at the internet giant were harassed over their conservative political views, according to Bloomberg.

James Damore filed a class-action complaint after setting off a firestorm in August with a 10-page memo blasting Google’s “left bias“ for creating a “politically correct monoculture.“ He alleged that the presence of women is celebrated because of their gender and that white men were mocked with boos at companywide meetings.

“Google’s open hostility for conservative thought is paired with invidious discrimination on the basis of race and gender, barred by law," according to the filing in state court in San Jose, California. “Google’s management goes to extreme and illegal lengths to encourage hiring managers to take protected categories such as race and/or gender into consideration as determinative hiring factors, to the detriment of Caucasian and male employees and potential employees at Google.

Another ex-Googler named as a plaintiff is David Gudeman, who says he was an engineer for three years until he was wrongfully terminated in December 2016. The two men claim they were “ostracized, belittled and punished for their heterodox political views, and for the added sin of their birth circumstances of being Caucasians and/or males.“

Google said it fired Damore for violating the company code of conduct and advancing “harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.“ Damore filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that his employer interfered with his right to engage in protected activities. Damore has said that Google executives had "shamed" him for the views expressed in the memo. Google has denied Damore’s allegation that its hiring practices are illegal.