Google's fired anti-diversity engineer loses dismissal case

The Google engineer who was fired for his inflammatory anti-diversity memo has failed his labour law challenge against his former employer.

James Damore was sacked in August 2017 after distributing an internal memo which stated that women have a harder time leading than men and are “directed towards feelings and aesthetics rather than ideas.” Design and tech website Gizmodo published the note, resulting in public criticism and a social media backlash against Damore.

At the time, Google CEO Sundar Pichai publicly responded to the outrage, stating the engineer had crossed “the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.

Bloomberg reported that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) associate general counsel Jayme Sophir ruled that “the statements regarding biological differences between the sexes were so harmful, discriminatory, and disruptive as to be unprotected [by law].” This means Google were within their right to fire Damore for the contents of his memo.