George Leef uses his latest Forbes column to examine the current controversy involving Google.
Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai explained the company’s decision to terminate [James] Damore, saying that while “we strongly support the right of Googlers to express themselves,” Damore’s affiliation with the company could no longer continue because “portions of the memo cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.”
This is reminiscent of the old Soviet Union, where people who dared to think were apt to be labeled “deviationist” and sent to Siberia. Because he dared to question some aspects of Google’s diversity mania, Damore is a deviationist. He can’t be sent to Siberia, but he can be fired, never again to either use his evident engineering talents for Google or make other Googlers feel hurt or afraid because there’s a dissident lurking around.
Many people are asking this $64,000 (or perhaps more like $64 million) dollar question: Does Damore have a legal case against Google.
Some people think he does.
In this post on Liberty Unyielding, lawyer Jerome Woehrle, points out that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, individuals who complain about discrimination by an employer are protected against retaliation. “Title VII,” he writes, “has been interpreted by the courts as protecting people from being fired for protesting perceived reverse discrimination – even when that discrimination turns out to be legal.”