Google Sued By Male Ex-Employee, Alleges Discrimination Against White Conservative Men

In a rather unusual turn of events, a former employee of Google is suing the company for supposedly discriminating against white male conservatives. Often, tech giants are sued for discriminating against minorities, whether it’s in terms of ethnicity, nationality, religion, or even gender. This is a rare case because it involves a straight, white, American male filing a lawsuit over similar concerns.

The ex-employee is James Damore who was fired from Google after circulating a memo that questioned the benefits of focusing too much on diversity programs, The Verge reports. Damore argued that it would be better to place emphasis on ideological diversity instead of ethnicity or gender. He was quickly lambasted for it, especially for his comments about women and was subsequently terminated.

Now, Damore is coming back with a lawsuit, which he is filing with the cooperation of another fired engineer, David Gudeman. According to the documents, the pair argue that “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.”

As The New York Times noted, Silicon Valley has had to contend with the culture wars that seem to permeate every fabric of society. While tech giants are trying to shore up the scales to achieve a balance of the minorities and women they employ, the companies also have to contend with lawsuits from female employees who feel that they are systematically underpaid.

Google has so far declined to provide any comments on the lawsuit, but CEO Sundar Pichai has said in the past that Damore’s comments were unacceptable. In an email sent to employees after Damore’s dismissal, Pichai reiterated the company’s commitment to equality and diversity.