Last August, a memo written by Google engineer James Damore called out the tech giant for "alienating conservatives." The document sparked outrage as Damore cited biological differences in men and women as a reason for the gender gap.
Before Google fired Damore, he filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board stating that the company was "misrepresenting and shaming [him] in order to silence [his] complaints."
On Friday, the Labor Relations Board issued a memo of its own, in which it concluded that Damore's language was "unprotected because of its highly offensive nature," and that Google had every right to fire him.
Some credit has to go to the HR manager who crafted the carefully written prepared statement that Damore's director used to fire him. It states that he was terminated for the specific part of the post that "generalizes and advances stereotypes about women versus men." Damore was told that "Having a different political view is absolutely fine. Advancing gender stereotypes is not."
According to the NLRB, Google has a right to nip any employee conduct in the bud that could lead to a “hostile workplace."
According to CNET, Damore actually withdrew the NLRB complaint last month to focus on his lawsuit against Google. That's the class action lawsuit that claims the company has an "open hostility for conservative thought" and discriminates against white, male conservatives.
This is IEN Now with David Mantey.
