Last August, Google fired engineer James Damore for penning a memo (more of a 3,300-word screeching manifesto) that argued against workplace diversity, which he claimed was damaging to political conservatives, who he said are consequently afraid to speak their minds. In doing so, Damore also painted gross generalizations against women, accusing them of being more neurotic and anxiety-ridden, and he believes these supposed traits render women unsuitable for the stress of higher-level tech jobs.
Months later, Damore has now decided that it was unfair for Google to fire him for his sexist rhetoric, so he’s suing them for … discrimination against white males. CNET has published Damore’s court filing, which accuses Google of illegal hiring practices and reads in part:
“Google employs illegal hiring quotas to fill its desired percentages of women and favored minority candidates, and openly shames managers of business units who fail to meet their quotas — in the process, openly denigrating male and Caucasian employees as less favored than others.”
The lawsuit also argues that Google celebrates women as part of their workforce “solely due to their gender,” which goes to show that Damore has learned nothing from his experience. However, Damore’s attorneys are extra bold in their assertion that another he, along with former Google employee (David Gudeman) and unspecified others, have been wronged to the degree that a class-action lawsuit is warranted. Within his lawsuit, Damore further insists that the company “[shames] Google business units for failing to achieve numerical gender parity,” and his attorneys characterize him as “surprised” by Google’s reaction to his manifesto.
Meanwhile, another class action suit against Google — from three female former employees alleging gender discrimination over promotions and wages — is still in the works.
(Via CNET)