Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

Re:Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo by TimPC on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @12:44AM (#14954407)

The document itself makes the claim that conservatives and classical liberals are discriminated against and actively silenced at Google. While I don't necessarily agree with this claim as per the the article he's set himself up into a position for being fired for commenting on his political beliefs. It's quite possible all he really needs to make a case is examples of political belief being shared and accepted without consequence in the same venue since it's pretty easy to find mainstream republicans who share these positions. Not saying the case is a winner, but it's pretty hard to not survive summary judgement when you can allege a reasonable basis for political discrimination. At that point I'd bet settling would be favourable to going through discovery.

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Re:Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo by linkregister on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @01:01AM (#14954535)

Can you point me to some resources that describe political discrimination? I've never heard of it as a protected class especially when opinions are expressed at work.

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Re:Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo by bzbarsky on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @04:41AM (#14955792)

California has explicit legislation forbidding employer interference in employee political activity: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection....

Of course the punishment for violating this is a fine of no more than $5k, per http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection....

That said, it _may_ open the door for a civil lawsuit per http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection....

Whether any of that applies in this situation is entirely unclear to me, because it hinges on the definitions of "engaging or participating in politics" and so forth. You'd probably need to talk to a competent labor lawyer in California for anything resembling clarity here.

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Re:Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo by TimPC on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @01:35AM (#14954723)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donna-ballman/can-you-be-fired...

I think this comes down to is affirmative action policy a workplace condition. Discussion about workplace conditions is separate from discrimination law entirely so 'protected class' becomes a red herring here. I'm not sure this is the best article but I tried to find something from a left leaning source I find reasonably fair given that this seems to be an anti-right topic.

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Re:Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo by empressplay on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @02:43AM (#14955087)

He got let go for saying certain coworkers were less qualified based on their gender. You can't wrap whatever you want in "politics!" and then scream when you get into trouble for it. Sorry.

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