• About & Contact Us
  • SEO Community

Ulancer.com

    • Latest Stories

      What is new?

    • Meet the startups that pitched at EF’s 10th Demo Day in London

      September 27, 2018

    • Rally Rd., the app that lets you invest in classic cars, raises $7M Series A

      September 27, 2018

  • News
  • How to’s
  • Writing
  • Startups
  • Jobs
  • More
    • CMS Tools
    • APPS
    • Web Resources
      • Advertising
      • Firefox
      • Scripts
      • Tools

National Labor Relations Board rejected Damore’s claim that Google fired him unjustly

  • by Ulancer Contributor
  • In News
  • — 16 Feb, 2018


A federal body overseeing labor disputes advised the dismissal of Jeremy Damore’s claim that Google fired him unjustly for his controversial memo regarding inclusion and diversity programs at the company. Citing similar precedents, the National Labor Relations Board counsel deemed parts of the memo “so harmful, discriminatory, and disruptive” as to shed their status as protected speech in the workplace.

The NLRB memo, issued on January 16 and published publicly yesterday, does not constitute an official ruling or legal action. It is however the official advice of a federal lawyer who specializes in this field, and its conclusion, that the complaint be dismissed, would likely have been followed by the regional board being advised. Instead, Damore withdrew the complaint.

In her handling of the complaint, Jayme Sophir (Associate General Counsel of the NLRB’s Division of Advice) examined the public documents relating to the case — viz. the memo itself and the post by CEO Sundar Pichai, among other things — and internal ones, such as posts to employee forums and emails sent to and from Damore and others.

Sophir found that Damore’s memo contained a great deal of protected speech, as he clearly seems deeply concerned with company policies that he thinks discriminatory. His opinions on those programs and advice for Google regarding them are certainly protected, she found, and an email from an HR manager to Damore emphasizes this (brackets NLRB’s):

I want to make clear that our decision is based solely on the part of your post that generalizes and advances stereotypes about women versus men. It is not based in any way on the portions of your post that discuss [the Employer’s] programs or trainings, or how [the Employer] can improve its inclusion of differing political views. Those are important points.

But she also cited several precedents where employees, in the course of “concerted activities regarding working conditions,” exceeded the bounds of protected speech, such as accusations that a foreman was a Klansman, or making degrading allusions to a co-worker’s sexual orientation. These forms of speech could be banned and the speakers in question disciplined or fired “as a reasonable precaution against discord and bitterness.”

Portions of Damore’s memo fell under the same category as these examples, Sophir found (brackets mine to interpret redacted portions).

The Charging Party’s use of stereotypes based on purported biological differences between women and men should not be treated differently than the types of conduct the Board found unprotected in these cases. [Damore’s] statements about immutable traits linked to sex—such as women’s heightened neuroticism and men’s prevalence at the top of the IQ distribution—were discriminatory and constituted sexual harassment, notwithstanding [his] effort to cloak [his] comments with “scientific” references and analysis, and notwithstanding [his] “not all women” disclaimers.

Google’s firing of Damore, therefore, was justified. (Pichai has said he doesn’t regret it, either.)

Damore’s defenders have steadfastly maintained that the memo does not say outright that women are biologically less suited to engineering than men, and that critics are being uncharitable in their reading of his arguments. While that may stand up in comment section arguments, it’s harder to assert that Sophir, an expert in the field who evaluates such situations for her profession, failed to closely read the memo.

The charge that Google violated the law in firing Damore was advised to be dismissed, should he not withdraw the complaint — which he did. The case was closed on January 19, three days after the NLRB’s memo was issued.

It’s not the end of the road for Damore, though this decisive refutation of his complaint is a significant and public setback. He has also filed a class action lawsuit against the company and is agitating in other ways against the political correctness he feels led to his dismissal.

Featured Image: Getty Images


News source

You might also like...

  • Igloo, a Jive-style enterprise collaboration platform, raises $47M 10 Jan, 2018
  • Why I decided to install Messenger Kids 5 Feb, 2018
  • Facebook invented a new time unit called the ‘flick’ and it’s truly amazing 23 Jan, 2018
  • GM expands Maven car sharing to Toronto 13 Feb, 2018
  • Previous story Federal judge rules that embedded tweets can represent copyright infringement
  • Next story People are trolling iPhone users with the ‘killer symbol’ that crashes their apps
  • RSS
    Receive Freebies & Latest Posts Directly To Your Email - it's Free!

    • Recent Posts
    • Most Popular
    • Comments
    • 7hrCggmJ-AMMeet the startups that pitched at EF’s 10th Demo Day in LondonSeptember 27, 2018
    • oNo38LV2tQIRally Rd., the app that lets you invest in classic cars, raises $7M Series ASeptember 27, 2018
    • Nearby.gifBerkanan is a Bluetooth-powered group messaging appSeptember 27, 2018
    • 2122.pngVinay Gupta to talk about Mattereum at Disrupt BerlinSeptember 27, 2018
    • slider_wp_03Best collection of WordPress Slider PluginsJuly 5, 2010
    • Joomla template builderTop 8 Free Joomla Template GeneratorsJuly 19, 2011
    • 40+ Best WordPress Plugins for Comments40+ Best WordPress Plugins for CommentsJune 18, 2011
    • wptheme2A Collection of Free WordPress ThemesJuly 11, 2010
    • Jason Hall on:Circle launches its stablecoin
    • Jason Hall on:Circle launches its stablecoin
    • Bharat Sarkari Naukri on:Spotify acquires online music studio Soundtrap as it goes after creators
    • PMP on:Online learning platform Unacademy gets $21M Series C from Sequoia India, SAIF and Nexus
  • Staff Picks

    • slider_wp_03Best collection of WordPress Slider PluginsJuly 5, 2010
    • Joomla template builderTop 8 Free Joomla Template GeneratorsJuly 19, 2011
    • 40+ Best WordPress Plugins for Comments40+ Best WordPress Plugins for CommentsJune 18, 2011
  • Recent Posts

    • Meet the startups that pitched at EF’s 10th Demo Day in London
    • Rally Rd., the app that lets you invest in classic cars, raises $7M Series A
  • Search Our Blog

  • Ulancer is an insightful freelance blog and resource site. We provide intuitive articles that cover Photoshop tutorials, time-saving management tips covering a broad range of topics. We also have an active freelance community forum, there you can meet other freelancers that share your common interest, socialize and chat about freelance trending news as the occurred.

© Copyright 2013 Ulancer.