Class Action lawsuit against Google for discrimination against conservatives, whites and males
Commenced by James Damore, Google employee terminated after release of internal memo on “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber”
James Damore, a former Google engineer who was reportedly fired for circulating a memo critical of the company’s diversity policies, filed a complaint alleging Google discriminates against conservatives, whites and men.
Buzzfeed reported Monday:
The author of a controversial memo that sparked debates about gender and diversity at Google sued his former employer on Monday, alleging that the company discriminates against politically conservative white men.
James Damore, who was fired in August for internally circulating a manifesto that argued Google’s gender pay gap was the result of genetic inferiority, said in a lawsuit filed in Santa Clara Superior Court that the search giant “singled out, mistreated, and systematically punished and terminated” employees that deviated from the company’s view on diversity. Damore and a second plaintiff, David Gudeman, another former Google engineer, are seeking class-action status for anyone that identifies as conservative, Caucasian, or male.
The men are being represented by Harmeet K. Dhillon, the Republican National Committee’s committeewoman for California.
“Google’s management goes to extreme — and illegal — lengths to encourage hiring managers to take protected categories such as race and/or gender into consideration as determinative hiring factors, to the detriment of Caucasian and male employees and potential employees at Google,” the suit reads.
Entitled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber“, the memo was largely misreported as suggesting a genetic deficiency among women in the tech field. The memo says no such thing. “We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism,” Damore argued.
Damore joined Ben Shapiro a few months ago to tell his side of the story:
“Google’s open hostility for conservative thought is paired with invidious discrimination on the basis of race and gender, barred by law,” the complaint alleges. “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. 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.”
Here’s the summary paragraph from the Complaint:
2. Plaintiffs bring this individual and class action on behalf of themselves and on behalf of a class and subclasses defined as all employees of Google discriminated against (i) due to their perceived conservative political views by Google in California at any time during the time period beginning four years prior to the filing of this Complaint through the date of trial in this action
(“Political Class Period”); (ii) due to their male gender by Google in California at any time during the time period beginning one year prior to the filing of this Complaint through the date of trial in this action (“Gender Class Period”); and/or (iii) due to their Caucasian race by Google in California at any time during the time period beginning one year prior to the filing of this Complaint through the date of trial in this action (“Race Class Period”) (Political Class Period, Gender Class Period, and Race Class Period referred to collectively, as “Class Periods”). These violations also subject Google to claims for violation of California’s Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq.1
The complaint in full (pdf.):
James Damore v Google – Class Action Complaint by Legal Insurrection on Scribd
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Comments
This was a no brainer, and he deserves his payday.
Another lawsuit, also alleging viewpoint discrimination, is ongoing based on the unconstitutionality of section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA),
from http://www.americanfreedomlawcenter.org/press-release/federal-government-authorizes-facebook-twitter-and-youtube-to-censor-anti-islam-speech-lawsuit-filed/
On July 13, 2016, the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging Section 230 under the First Amendment.
Section 230 provides immunity from lawsuits to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, thereby permitting these social media giants to engage in government-sanctioned censorship and discriminatory business practices free from legal challenge.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, and Jihad Watch.
As alleged in the lawsuit, Geller and Spencer, along with the organizations they run, are often subject to censorship and discrimination by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube because of Geller’s and Spencer’s beliefs and views, which Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube consider expression that is offensive to Muslims.
Who was the author of section 230? Do we know who wrote it or submitted it?
“James Damore, who was fired in August for internally circulating a manifesto that argued Google’s gender pay gap was the result of genetic inferiority”
Buzzfeed openly lies about what he said. Lovely.
Yes, Buzzfeed lied and this is painfully obvious in James Damore’s meticulously crafted memo which is often distributed without the many references cited to widely accepted peer reviewed and journal published studies. James Damore cannot be tarred as a stereotypical disgruntled employee. This will be an interesting case.
True. Damore did not circulate the memo. He posted it on an internal forum intended for internal discussions, not public. Some woman took offense (!) at what he wrote and posted it publicly (on Facebook?). If you have not, read the full text here: https://www.quotev.com/story/9922506/James-Damores-Diversity-Memo/1
They should win this lawsuit.
They should bring against it multiple tech companies the same way they went after Apple/Intel & others for colluding in the late 90s. Can’t imagine FB, Twitter, and others to be friendly to conservative view points.
Note that if you work at one of these places and it’s known you are bringing litigation against them, you’re toast.
Oh hell ya. A conservative who fights. Burn Google down to the ground.
I believe the is the first time in my life I have heard about a lawsuit alleging discrimination against white conservative males.
I am 51.
But it’s about time since White males have been the most discriminated group (and minority) in the US for at least 50 years.
I no longer use Google PERIOD.
Bing is my search engine now –
are there any more neutral search sites ?
i did prefer google’s clean presentation, (sigh)
duckduckgo
I am terribly sorry; my fat finger made a mistake in down voting your comment. I meant to upvote your post. My bad.
yes to duckduckgo! In addition to not being google, they don’t track your searches.
Good move in that Bing does less spying on you than Google.
Don’t think that MSFT exec leadership is any friend to conservatives ideals.
I’ve been using Bing a lot – way better than Goober……
If you’re a conservative, Republican, Libertarian or even middle of the road … and you’re a white male … best to keep your mouth shut in all circumstances.
How about choosing your battles wisely and fighting them with a smile?
In a perfect world in which there was absolutely zero discrimination, would anyone really expect anything close to perfectly proportional representation in all fields of human endeavor? Or is it far more likely that social and other factors would inevitably lead to widening divergences? Yet this is where “disparate impact” law has led us.
Is the absence of women at the grandmaster level of chess competition evidence of discrimination in chess competition? Why are Russians (esp. Russian Jews) over-represented at the highest levels of chess competition, and not Egyptians?
It seems unlikely that Damore’s lawsuit will go anywhere, or that the grip of Disparate Impact law will loosen anytime soon; nonetheless, can we not start to at least point out its apparent lack of logical or scientific foundations?
Yes. We call these people “progressives”. They would be sorely disappointed with how reality shakes out. But aren’t they always?
Wow. Reading the complaint is…eye-opening.
Just, wow.