Ex-Google engineer Tim Chevalier sued his former employer, the tech giant, claiming he was wrongfully fired from the office. He claims that the globally renowned company has only the employees representing ‘the majority get their voices heard. He was terminated because he raised voices via posts on social media platforms regarding certain work culture aspects of the company.
Chevalier’s lawsuit was filed yesterday, February 21 in the state court of San Francisco. According to the filing, he served for Google as a site reliability engineer the period from December 2015 to November 2017.
Tim is disabled and transgender and identifies himself as queer. He regularly spoke out supporting minority and underrepresented groups while standing firm against the bullies at the workplace. His claims further include that Google terminated him because of his aggressive response to posts that attacked women and people of color.
Fueling the debates related to laws and societal sentiments against discrimination, he even attacked white supremacist views. The ‘regressive’ perceptions that women and people of color are not biologically fit to be software engineers and that Google should not actively recruit them were protested by Tim. He stated that Google’s forums have turned to be a ‘cesspool of harassment.’
One of his the-then colleagues, James Damore, said last year that women are not suited for leadership due to biological differences. Tim’s attacks were mainly to counter Damore’s opinion. Damore was fired from the office in August 2017, and just last week, his filing was shot down by the National Labor Relations Board.
While this all seems settled and supportive of progressive societal perceptive standards, Tim has been still under the radar of his seniors due to his “too much social activism” since September 2016. During that time, he fairly noted against discrimination and added that ‘white male competence’ should not be equally encouraged “even in the face of clear evidence to the contrary.”
Nonetheless, frictions between him and his superiors did still continue. This was in contrary to his receiving of multiple peer bonuses for his commentary on internal office matters. Tim believed that several of his colleagues including an HR official, had been offhand of his comments and critiques. According to him, this finally led to his termination.
Google spokeswoman Gina Scigliano wrote in a mail welcoming lively debate that she pointed out as an important part of the company culture. She added:
The overwhelming majority of our employees communicate in a way that is consistent with our policies. But when an employee does not, it is something we must take seriously. We always make our decision without any regard to the employee’s political views.- Gina Scigliano, Google spokeswoman
It is rather justifiable that Tim Chevalier, himself belonging to a minority community, did do well-standing firm on his ground, considering societal equality standards. Whether he crossed certain lines in the process which could direct Google to fire him is, of course, the debate to handle in the courtroom! While we want it all settled soon for both the company brand and Tim’s screams for justice and equality, it will ultimately be fair to see the sense of morality win at the end of the day. No matter what; to ourselves, to humanity: “May the odds be ever in your favor!”
Drop your opinions regarding this matter in comments below. Follow this space for the next update on the case.
