James Damore sues Google, alleging discrimination against whites and men

The engineer who was fired by Google after he criticized its diversity policies is suing the internet giant, alleging that he and others at Google were harassed over their conservative political views. 

James Damore filed a class-action complaint Jan 8 after setting off a firestorm in August with a 10-page memo blasting what he called Google’s “left bias” for creating a “politically correct monoculture.” He alleged that the presence of women is celebrated because of their gender and that white men were mocked with boos at companywide meetings. “Google’s open hostility for conservative thought is paired with invidious discrimination on the basis of race and gender, barred by law," says the complaint, filed in California Superior Court in San Jose. “Google’s management goes to extreme — and illegal — lengths to encourage hiring managers to take protected categories such as race and/or gender into consideration as determinative hiring factors, to the detriment of Caucasian and male employees and potential employees at Google." Damore’s lawyer is Harmeet Dhillon, a civil rights lawyer who has taken on cases that push back against the Bay Area’s progressive tendencies. She reportedly was on President Trump’s shortlist to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in March; the president ended up nominating a different attorney.