> You think a guy who got fired after a few years of work experience would rather make a company look bad than gain financial security?
No, I think Damore is savvy enough to be aware of (and, given his participation in right-wing media after the memo blew up, whether or not this was in his mind in advance, has likely since been counseled by others even more aware of) the fact that his route to maximizing financial returns from this affair lie in maximizing the media impact and his centrality to it, not maximizing the lawsuit payout.
> The reason we are hearing about the lawsuit is because he did try for a settlement, with terms much like you deacribe, and Google refused.
Pure speculation, both as to whether he attempted at settlement and what the terms he requested were if he did.
> You only go to court as a last resort, and that's what this is
That's obviously not a universal truth.
> That's also why we are only hearing about it now instead of when it happened
Damore filed an NLRB complaint almost simultaneously with his firing (it was subsequently withdrawn) and immediately started his intent to file a lawsuit; we know from the details of the law suit and the Damore camps own description that they spent the intervening time gathering stories to support a class action. You are spinning a fantasy out of speculation.