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Fired Engineer James Damore Sues Google For Discriminating Against Conservative White Males
Hotair ^ | 01/09/2018 | John Sexton

Posted on 01/09/2018 7:55:03 AM PST by SeekAndFind

James Damore, the Google employee who was fired last year after his memo about diversity efforts at the company went viral, has filed a lawsuit against his former employer. Damore’s suit, which is joined by another ex-Google engineer named David Gudeman, claims that the company discriminates against conservatives and against white males. From Fox News:

“Damore, Gudeman, and other class members 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,” the lawsuit alleged. “This is the essence of discrimination—Google formed opinions about and then treated Plaintiffs not based on their individual merits, but rather on their membership in groups with assumed characteristics.”

“Google employees and managers strongly preferred to hear the same orthodox opinions regurgitated repeatedly, producing an ideological echo chamber, a protected, distorted bubble of groupthink,” the lawsuit adds. “When Plaintiffs challenged Google’s illegal employment practices, they were openly threatened and subjected to harassment and retaliation from Google.”

The lawsuit itself is available for download here. It paints a detailed picture of some specific instances at the company when senior executives told employees that race and gender were to be taken into account in hiring and that this stance was not open for debate:

On March 30, 2017, Damore attended a weekly company-wide meeting called a “TGIF meeting.” These weekly meetings were used as an avenue for employees to connect and discuss
certain topics involving Google.

The TGIF meeting on March 30, 2017 was entitled “Women’s History Month,” and Google brought in two presenters for this get-together: Ruth Porat (“Porat”), the Chief Financial
Officer of Google, and Eileen Naughton (“Naughton”), the Human Resources Director of Google.

During the March 30, 2017 TGIF meeting, either Porat or Naughton pointed out and shamed individual departments at Google in which women comprised less than 50% of the workforce. Alternatively, they applauded and praised departments, such as the sales department, where women comprised more than 50% of the workforce.

During the event, Porat and Naughton also discussed that when looking at groups of people for promotions or for leadership opportunities on new projects, Google would be taking into
account gender and ethnic demographics. They then mentioned that Google’s racial and gender preferences in hiring were not up for debate, because this was morally and economically the best thing to do for Google.

At a subsequent gathering in June, the “Diversity and Inclusion Summit,” the same message was repeated. During a breakout session, Damore spoke to a human resources person at the company about his concerns and the HR person agreed with him [emphasis added]:

At the Summit, Damore spoke with Meghana Rao (“Rao”) from Google’s Human Resources department (“Google HR”). Damore told Rao that he believed some of the positions taken
by Google were divisive and misguided. Specifically, Damore mentioned that it seemed like Google was elevating political correctness over merit.

Rao responded to Damore’s comment by stating “some of the political things at Google were a problem.” They discussed how some Google employees with conservative views and values did not feel included, and Rao mentioned how she, and other HR representatives, had received similar complaints in the past from employees with conservative views.

Damore’s memo, the one that went viral and prompted his firing, was written in response to a call at the end of this diversity summit meeting for feedback on the presentation. A third diversity training in July was organized by the “Unbiasing Group.” When Damore expressed his concerns at this meeting, he was laughed at:

At the in-person training, entitled “Bias Busting,” Google discussed how biases against women exist in the workplace, and how “white male privilege” exists in the workplace. The training was run by the “Unbiasing Group” at Google, and there were approximately 20 Google employees present. Damore disagreed with this one-sided approach. When Damore verbalized his dissent and his concerns with the one-sided presentation, other employees, including managers, laughed at him derisively. They considered his views to be conservative, and thus flawed and worthy of disparagement.

After Damore was fired in early August, Google allowed employees to give one another Peer Bonuses for disagreeing with him:

The Google Recognition Team allowed employees to give fellow employees “Peer Bonuses” for arguing against Damore’s political viewpoints. Peer Bonuses were typically reserved for
outstanding work performance or for going above and beyond an employee’s job duties. Defending the liberal agenda, or defending violations of California employment law, is not in any Google employee’s job description.

All of this comes from just the first dozen or so pages dealing with James Damore and his firing. The lawsuit goes on to claim the company tolerated other employees recommending conservatives be fired for their opinions. One employee, a manager, even recommended creating a blacklist of people who make diversity difficult.



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; conservative; davidgudeman; dhillonlawgroup; google; googlediscrimination; googleemployees; harmeetdhillon; jamesdamore; rachelwhetstone; sanfrancisco; searchisyourfriend; white

1 posted on 01/09/2018 7:55:03 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Sorry, you’re not a protected class................


2 posted on 01/09/2018 7:56:55 AM PST by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Google Recognition Team allowed employees to give fellow employees “Peer Bonuses”

What is this place, a frikkin Preschool??


3 posted on 01/09/2018 8:01:54 AM PST by eyeamok (Tolerance: The virtue of having a belief in Nothing!)
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To: SeekAndFind

3-5 years from now he will be a very rich man.

Which is good, because he’ll not work in Silicon Valley again.


4 posted on 01/09/2018 8:08:32 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: eyeamok

They do it at Intel too.

$100 cap.

Company paid.


5 posted on 01/09/2018 8:09:22 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: SeekAndFind

In a fair workplace this would be an open and shut case. Clearly these Conservatives were treated unfairly and held up for ridicule for no other reason but disagreeing with the Liberal political viewpoint.

This firing had nothing to do with his work performance.

Unfortunately this is California we are talking about, and the “highly intelligent and tolerant” Liberals can neither intelligently debate him, not tolerate his different views. Aside from some headlines, I doubt he will win in California. In most other states, reason and logic would prevail.


6 posted on 01/09/2018 8:10:38 AM PST by Hodar (A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.- Burroughs)
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To: SeekAndFind

Hope he wins bigly.


7 posted on 01/09/2018 8:12:24 AM PST by knittnmom
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To: SeekAndFind

WOW. That “peer bonuses” part is just mind-blowing.


8 posted on 01/09/2018 8:14:29 AM PST by NEMDF
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To: SeekAndFind

Google is extension of College Campus, but kids get paid and had stock options.


9 posted on 01/09/2018 8:27:21 AM PST by jennychase
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To: SeekAndFind

I despise and detest Google. This is no surprise. It assume they keep a dossier on every employee’s surfing habits, and assign a classification, cross-referencing employee files.

There is no good that is going to come from what Google does.


10 posted on 01/09/2018 8:39:43 AM PST by rlmorel (Leftists: American Liberty is the egg that requires breaking to make their Utopian omelette.)
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To: Red Badger

Actually, he is - at least in theory. This could be an interesting lawsuit. It’s also retaliation against protected activity.


11 posted on 01/09/2018 8:46:40 AM PST by theoilpainter
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To: NEMDF

Peer bonuses are not a bad idea but Google misused them in away that did not conform with their stated rules.

Peer bonuses can be used to reward hard workers who go beyond what is required. This applies in most any work environment whether it is a shop floor, construction crew, or software development operation. Too often those who go above and beyond go unrecognized and in many cases recognition goes to someone else who has the right friends.

Google needs to be sued to the max for not only breaching their own rules but also for violating the guys Constitutional rights and discrimination laws as well.


12 posted on 01/09/2018 8:49:09 AM PST by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: RJS1950

Yes, what YOU said...”Peer bonuses” for agreeing with the borg (management) is rather a stupid thing to have allowed.


13 posted on 01/09/2018 8:55:26 AM PST by goodnesswins (There were 1.41 MILLION NON Profit orgs in 2013 with $1.73 TRILLION in REVENUE)
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To: SeekAndFind

Big leftist companies are trying to fire and impoverish conservatives into submission. The firing of employees for political beliefs should be verboten, unless politics is a part of the job. In today’s world where big companies dominate so much of the job market, it is no answer to respond that the fired conservative can look for another job.


14 posted on 01/09/2018 9:02:38 AM PST by Socon-Econ
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To: SeekAndFind

Dude. In case you didn’t notice, you’re white. If you hadn’t been, you never would have gotten that kushy job in the first place. Google on bro. (I hope he beats the snot out of them, but......)


15 posted on 01/09/2018 9:06:52 AM PST by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?!)
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To: SeekAndFind
Can't wait for the discovery. If this kind of shit goes on in public we'll be amazed how awful they are in private.

Next, we'll have a premier tech company telling us they lost backups of their email servers and how a rash of unrecoverable hard drive errors corrupted the entire HR department's data.

16 posted on 01/09/2018 9:16:54 AM PST by Dilbert56
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To: SeekAndFind

Given that Apple fired a black female executive for defending the concept of diversity of opinion in Big Tech, he has a strong case that Google is actively discriminating against people for their beliefs AND undermining their freedom of speech and belief.


17 posted on 01/09/2018 9:21:32 AM PST by tbw2
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To: All

I pray he wins big time. Modern diversity is merely reverse racism. People should be hired based on skill levels, only.


18 posted on 01/09/2018 10:07:51 AM PST by veracious (UN = OIC = Islam ; Dems may change USAgov completely, just amend USConstitution)
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To: SeekAndFind

Open and shut case....It’s time for CONSERVATIVES to fight back against liberal corporations. A conservative can’t speak out against discrimination?? Hey morons,you discriminate against Caucasians who are male and Conservative.


19 posted on 01/09/2018 11:27:54 AM PST by ConservaTeen (Islam is Not the Religion of Peace, but The religion of Pedophilia...)
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