James Damore sues Google, claims tech giant discriminates against white conservative men
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}James Damore, the onetime Google employee who was fired after he wrote a memo criticizing the firm for pushing diversity, has filed a class action lawsuit against the tech giant.
The suit was filed Monday in Santa Clara Superior Court. Damore is joined in the lawsuit by another former Google engineer, David Gudeman.
READ DAMORE'S LAWSUIT HERE.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“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,” the lawsuit alleged. “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.”
Damore told Fox Business that Google still engages in “harassment and career sabotage of anyone that expresses a conservative viewpoint, and there’s constant shaming and attacks against white men within Silicon Valley.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Google employees and managers strongly preferred to hear the same orthodox opinions regurgitated repeatedly, producing an ideological echo chamber, a protected, distorted bubble of groupthink,” the lawsuit continued. “When Plaintiffs challenged Google’s illegal employment practices, they were openly threatened and subjected to harassment and retaliation from Google.”
Damore was fired last summer after he wrote a memo criticizing Google for pushing mentoring and diversity programs and for “alienating conservatives.” He also blamed biological differences for the relative lack of women in tech.
GOOGLE FIRES EMPLOYEE BEHIND ANTI-DIVERSITY MEMO, REPORTS SAY
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We look forward to defending against Mr. Damore's lawsuit in court," a Google spokesman told Fox News, via email.
The search giant’s employment practices have been in the spotlight recently. In September, three women who previously worked at Google filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming gender-based pay discrimination. Last month Google scored a win in the lawsuit when a California state judge dismissed class action claims. However, a revised suit seeks class-action status against Google, claiming that the search giant for asking new hires about their prior salary, a practice now banned in California.
The suit, filed last week, also adds a fourth complainant, a preschool teacher with a master’s degree. The four women claimed Google underpaid them compared with their male counterparts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GOOGLE PAYS HIGHER SALARIES TO MEN THAN MORE-EXPERIENCED WOMEN: SUIT
The lawsuit came on the heels of a three-year federal investigation into pay practices at Google. Last year, Labor Department regulators accused Google of underpaying female workers. The Mountain View, Calif.-based firm vehemently denied the charges.
According to Google’s most recent workplace data, 69 percent of the company’s global workforce is male. In the U.S., 56 percent of the company’s employees are white.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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