Former Google employee James Damore filed a class action lawsuit Monday against the tech giant, alleging discrimination against conservative and white male employees.
The former software engineer worked for Google from 2013 until August when his employment was terminated.
He was fired after he drafted and circulated an internal memo concerning politics, diversity and gender, which went viral, sparking colleagues to send Mr. Damore threats. According to the legal complaint, Mr. Damore drafted the memo in response to diversity workshops in an attempt to create debate about the company’s political correctness and hiring practices.
“Google employees who expressed views deviating from the majority view at Google on political subjects raised in the workplace and relevant to Google’s employment policies and its business, such as ’diversity’ hiring policies, ’bias sensitivity,’ or ’social justice,’ were/are singled out, mistreated, and systematically punished and terminated from Google, in violation of their legal rights,” read Mr. Damore’s complaint filed at the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara.
Mr. Damore is joined by another former Google employee as plaintiffs in the action, and they seek to represent all Google employees who have been discriminated against due to their gender, race or political views.
According to the complaint, Mr. Damore spoke to Meghana Rao, who worked for Google’s human resources department, about conservatives feeling disenfranchised at the company. Ms. Rao reportedly said she had heard similar complaints from other employees.
He alleges the company blacklisted conservatives and threatened them with termination.
His lawsuit asks the court to issue both monetary and injunctive relief.
A spokesperson for Goole said the company looks “forward to defending against Mr. Damore’s lawsuit in court.”
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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