Anti-Diversity Manifesto Writer Fired Due To Rule Violation

The Google employee who wrote a manifesto countering the company’s diversity efforts has been fired, according to a report from Bloomberg. While Google has neither confirmed nor denied the story, James Damore, the author of the aforementioned controversial manifesto, has emailed the news organization to validate the information. Damore also stated that he was fired for propagating gender stereotypes. In the manifesto, the engineer stated that the corporate culture is not friendly towards conservative political opinions and that the shortage of women in certain key positions in the tech industry is due to biological differences between the two sexes. This resulted in strong reactions within the tech industry and within the Mountain View-based firm itself. Some employees have expressed support for firing Damore while others have mentioned that they will be unwilling to work with the engineer.

The maelstrom resulting from the leaked manifesto has forced Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, to cut short his family vacation and host a town hall meeting with the company’s senior executives. The chief executive is expected to talk about some of the pressing matters regarding the search giant’s internal culture, which include the issues of diversity and the capacity to express personal views and opinions. Pichai stated that while he respects the right of every individual to express their ideas and beliefs, there are select portions of the Damore’s manifesto that violates the tech firm’s Code of Conduct. He specifically refers to the idea that certain individuals have genes and traits that make them less suitable for a certain position, which breaches the company rule that ensures its workplaces will be free from harassment and intimidation.

Senior executives of both Google and its parent company, Alphabet, have talked about the company’s openness to host and discuss a wide range of political views. In a recent shareholders meeting, Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt expressed the conglomerate’s willingness to hire qualified individuals with conservative political views. However, Danielle Brown, Google’s new vice president for diversity, noted that these statements should be written in accordance with the Code of Conduct and there is still the possibility that employees may be penalized for defying company rules.