Google Sued By Infamous Memo Writer James Damore

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — James Damore, author of a inflammatory memo criticizing Google's diversity policies, said his former employer discriminated against him because he is a white, conservative man.

Damore's memo first became public in August, and Google faced an outcry for allowing an employee to circulate the argument. Many thought the memo, which accused the company of ideological insularity, an excessive commitment to gender equity and diversity, and ignorance of biological differences between the sexes was sexist and disruptive. Google terminated Damore shortly after the memo garnered national attention.

Now, Damore is saying that his termination violated his protection from being fired for his gender, racial identity and political views.

"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," the lawsuit says.

It continued: "Google's open hostility for conservative thought is paired with invidious discrimination on the basis of race and gender, barred by law."

"We look forward to defending against Mr Damore's lawsuit in court," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

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Rob Toole, a partner at the Kona HR Consulting Group, said at the time of the termination that Damore should not be surprised that the memo resulted in his firing.

"You can say whatever you want; the problem is when you say something and you put your company's name on it," Toole told Patch. "Whether it's right or wrong, it's got 'Google' on the letterhead."

While Damore's memo started out as an internal document, he had no reason to think it would stay confidential, Toole said. Given the pressure the tech industry — which is about 80 percent male — is under to diversify, it would have been easy to predict that a controversial document could become public and reflect back on the company.

The memo, published originally by Gizmodo, was a 10-page critique of the company's "political correctness" and diversity initiatives, which Damore says result in discrimination against men. While he acknowledged that women face unfair discrimination in the tech sector — a hot-button issue that has publicly dogged the industry for years — he said that biological differences between men and women are significant and may explain some of the gender gaps in the company.

In response, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that parts of the memo "violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace."

In a statement, Damore said his memo was misrepresented.

"I value diversity and inclusion, am not denying that sexism exists, and don't endorse using stereotypes," he said. "When addressing the gap in representation in the population, we need to look at population level differences in distributions. If we can't have an honest discussion about this, then we can never truly solve the problem."

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