Google fires employee behind anti-diversity memo - CNET

"James Damore, the Google engineer identified as the memo's author, confirmed his dismissal in an email, saying that he had been fired for "perpetuating gender stereotypes," according to Bloomberg, which reported the news late Monday.



Google representatives declined to comment on the report, citing employee confidentiality.



Earlier in the day, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees that the memo's author violated company rules by penning and publishing the controversial memo. The wording of Pichai's memo to workers seemed to suggest the employee's actions could result in dismissal, something people inside and out of the search giant have been calling for.



"Portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace," Pichai wrote in a memo to employees. "To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK."



Pichai's memo, titled "Our words matter," addressed the controversy that erupted over the weekend following the publication of a manifesto written by a senior engineer that criticizes the company's efforts to improve workforce diversity and its "left leaning" bias. The employee's 10-page memo went viral after being posted to an internal network, sparking outrage among Google employees.



Titled "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber," the employee argues that women are underrepresented in tech not as a result of bias and discrimination. Instead, "the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don't see equal representation of women in tech and leadership."



Google fires employee behind anti-diversity memo - CNET